Israel forms multinational force to search for hostages’ bodies in Gaza

Israel is preparing to release the first batch of its hostages on Saturday. A multinational force has also been formed to search for the locations of hostages who were killed, should Hamas declare it cannot determine their whereabouts, Israel’s Channel 12 reported.

Under the agreement formally announced last night by U.S. President Trump, Hamas is obliged, from the moment Israeli forces withdraw to the “yellow line,” to release living and dead hostages within 72 hours.

In recent hours, Israel has completed unprecedented preparations to receive the 20 hostages expected to be released from Hamas detention after nearly two years, and is preparing for this on Saturday. Israeli estimates indicate the first batch of hostages will be released on Saturday, either all at once or in stages over the coming hours.

At the same time, there is growing recognition in Israel that Hamas does not know the whereabouts of all the bodies of killed hostages. According to the agreement, Hamas must make its best efforts to locate them. If it fails, a multinational force will conduct searches and recover bodies whose burial sites are known to the Israeli military.

The force will be composed of Qatar, Egypt, the United States and Israel, and will operate inside the Strip. Israel will bring heavy engineering equipment to carry out the operations.

Israel and Hamas will sign an agreement today in Sharm el-Sheikh inaugurating the first phase of a deal to release all hostages and end the war in the Gaza Strip. At the same time, a ceasefire will come into effect.