A convoy of Egyptian trucks carrying heavy machinery entered Gaza overnight to assist in locating the remains of Israeli hostages, AFP footage showed. The vehicles were filmed moving through Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, where vast swathes of destruction have complicated ongoing recovery efforts.
The Israeli military did not immediately confirm the convoy’s entry, though reports in The Times of Israel said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally approved the Egyptian team’s deployment. Egyptian state-linked Al-Qahera News reported late Saturday that the team was en route to Gaza, while two Egyptian military sources confirmed to AFP that the convoy had been stationed at the Kerem Shalom crossing awaiting authorisation.
The mission marks the latest regional effort to recover those lost in the conflict, following a failed Turkish attempt earlier this month. On 17 October, a Turkish official announced that Ankara had dispatched 81 rescuers to Egypt to search for the hostages’ remains.
However, Israel reportedly rejected Turkish involvement, preventing the team from entering Gaza amid political frictions between the two nations. According to the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, the militant group was to return all 48 remaining hostages—alive and deceased—in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
So far, only 15 of the 28 dead hostages have been recovered, with the rest believed to be buried beneath Gaza’s shattered landscape. Hamas has called for equipment and assistance to unearth the remaining bodies, urging Israel to allow foreign teams to join the search. As bulldozers and cranes now roll through the ruins of Gaza, the Egyptian mission underscores a grim yet fragile chapter in the region’s quest for closure.