Israel Allows Hamas Representative to Enter 'Yellow Line' Area in Gaza to Search for Hostage Remains

In the context of implementing the ceasefire and exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas, Israel's Channel 12, citing an Israeli official, revealed that Israel has agreed to allow a Hamas representative to enter the Yellow Line area—a zone currently under Israeli military control in the Gaza Strip.

The Purpose: To enable the Red Cross and Hamas to locate the bodies of missing Israeli hostages.

Search Details and International Cooperation

• The Yellow Line Area: Israel believes that some remains of the hostages may be buried inside the Yellow Line zone, which covers more than half of the Gaza Strip's area. A Red Cross team has already arrived in Rafah near the zone to assist in the search.

• The Remaining Bodies: The agreement stipulates the return of all remaining hostages (alive and dead), who numbered 48 at the time of the deal. However, Hamas has so far only returned the remains of 15 of the 28 hostages who died. The movement states that the remaining 13 bodies are buried under rubble across the devastated Strip and requires additional equipment to search for them.

• Egyptian Assistance: The Israeli government approved a request from Cairo to allow Egyptian personnel and equipment to enter the Gaza Strip to help locate and retrieve the hostages' remains.

  • Egyptian teams and equipment have already entered Gaza. The team is designated as "a technical team" with a mission strictly limited to "only locating the bodies of the hostages," according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.

  • Video footage by AFP showed a convoy of trucks and vehicles carrying heavy machinery entering Gaza late Saturday, filmed in Khan Younis in the southern part of the Strip.

• US Ultimatum: US President Donald Trump had previously given Hamas 48 hours to return the remaining bodies of the Israeli hostages.