Netanyahu personally okays entry of ‘technical team’; Israel said certain Hamas holding more slain captives, deliberately refusing to return them, expects return of two on Sunday
As part of the efforts to recover the remaining 13 slain hostages held in Gaza, an Egyptian team has entered the Strip with several engineering vehicles to assist with locating their bodies, an Israeli defense official said Saturday.
The move was personally approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his office told The Times of Israel.
“It is a technical team,” the PMO said. “They are going in only to locate the slain hostages.”
Information from both Israel and Hamas on the location of dead hostages has been given to the Egyptian team to guide their search, Channel 12 reported.
Until now, Israel had not approved the entry of such teams, claiming that Hamas was capable of finding and returning the bodies itself.
According to Channel 12, Israel knows for certain that Hamas can hand over more bodies of slain hostages but is deliberately refusing to do so, and is also holding back information about their location, in direct breach of the October 9 Israel-Hamas hostage-ceasefire agreement.
Security officials have told families of some slain hostages the general area where the bodies of their loved ones are being held, the TV report said.
Israeli sources told the outlet that they expect Hamas to return two more bodies on Sunday after pressure from mediators, who told the terror group that US President Donald Trump is close to declaring that Hamas is responsible for the collapse of the ceasefire agreement.
According to the network, Israel considered holding up the entry of fuel and food into Gaza in order to pressure Hamas, but senior Trump administration officials who were in Israel over the past week shot down the idea, arguing it could endanger the ceasefire. The Prime Minister’s Office denied this report.
The report on possible sanctions on Hamas came after the Kan public broadcaster reported that Israeli defense officials told US Vice President JD Vance during a meeting Thursday that Hamas could return the bodies of at least 10 of the 13 deceased hostages still held in Gaza.
According to the Kan report, top Israeli officials presented Vance with the IDF’s intelligence assessment of Gaza and “stated unequivocally” that Hamas is capable of returning at least 10 of the bodies.
Before the ceasefire, Hamas was holding the bodies of 28 dead hostages. It has since returned 15 of them, along with releasing all 20 surviving hostages. The most recent transfer of the remains of two slain captives took place on Tuesday night.
