Egypt sent a team of experts into Gaza this weekend to help locate the bodies of deceased hostages as part of an international effort to shore up the fragile cease-fire in the territory, the Israeli prime minister’s office said on Sunday.
Aside from humanitarian workers, the Egyptians were the first international team to enter Gaza to buttress the U.S.-brokered truce, which took effect on Oct. 10. The issue of the unreturned bodies has severely strained the cease-fire.
Hamas has returned 15 bodies, but 13 more remain, according to the Israeli authorities. Hamas has said repeatedly that it will be difficult to recover all of the remains quickly because of the wide-scale devastation in Gaza and because it lacks heavy equipment.
Egyptian state media reported that logistical support and earth-moving equipment had been sent to Gaza.
On Saturday, President Trump increased the pressure on Hamas to return the remaining bodies in Gaza.
“Hamas is going to have to start returning the bodies of the deceased hostages, including two Americans, quickly, or the other Countries involved in this GREAT PEACE will take action,” he wrote on social media, referring to the bodies of two Israeli American soldiers.
Mr. Trump acknowledged that some bodies may be difficult to retrieve, but said that Hamas could return others immediately, echoing assertions by Israel that some bodies are in known locations and could be returned without delay.
“Let’s see what they do over the next 48 hours,” he wrote. “I am watching this very closely.”
The entry of the Egyptian team on Saturday was confirmed by Shosh Bedrosian, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
Briefing reporters on Sunday afternoon, Ms. Bedrosian emphasized that Mr. Netanyahu had approved a purely “technical” team and that its members did not belong to the Egyptian military.
Mr. Netanyahu met in Jerusalem last week with Egypt’s intelligence chief, Hassan Rashad. One of the topics they discussed was the return of the deceased hostages, Ms. Bedrosian said.
“We are working together to execute this plan and to ensure that Hamas upholds its side of the agreement,” she added.
Israeli observers have pointed to what they call the “internationalization” of the conflict. Mr. Netanyahu was pushing back on Sunday against domestic criticism that the Trump administration is essentially dictating Israeli policy and closely supervising the events on the ground in Gaza to ensure that the war does not resume.
Some Israelis fear that their government may not have a final say about which countries would participate in a proposed international security force for Gaza outlined in Mr. Trump’s peace plan, which formed the framework of the cease-fire. They say that the presence of international forces in Gaza would severely hamper Israel’s freedom of action.
“I want to make one thing crystal clear. Our security policy is in our own hands,” Mr. Netanyahu said in remarks at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. “We are in control of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding international forces that Israel will determine which forces are unacceptable to us,” he said.
“We will defend ourselves with our own forces, and we will continue to control our destiny,” he added.
Israeli commentators have called a series of visits to Israel over the past week by top Trump administration officials “Bibi-sitting.” The phrase refers to the prime minister by his nickname and alludes to fears by American officials that Mr. Netanyahu could dismantle the truce deal.
The cease-fire has already been punctuated by flare-ups of violence.
Palestinian militants from Gaza seized about 250 hostages during the deadly Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that ignited the war. Most were released during previous cease-fires.
The latest cease-fire stipulated that all captives, living and deceased, should be returned to Israel within 72 hours of the start of the truce.
Under the first phase of the deal, Hamas released the last 20 living hostages in exchange for about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, scores of whom were serving life sentences for deadly attacks against Israelis.
Israel has accused Hamas of dragging its feet so that it can reconstitute itself and stave off the next phase of the cease-fire deal, which calls for disarming the militant group and demilitarizing Gaza. Hamas has opposed giving up its weapons.
Mr. Netanyahu’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said on Saturday that an important element in demilitarizing Gaza was the destruction of Hamas’s tunnel network in the enclave.
Hamas has used the tunnels deep underground to preserve its forces during the Israeli assault, to hide weapons and hostages and to mount surprise attacks on Israeli troops. In the past, tunnels running under the border with Egypt were used for smuggling weapons and goods into Gaza.
Mr. Katz said 60 percent of the tunnels in Gaza remained intact two years after Israeli ground forces invaded the enclave and bombarded thousands of targets above and below ground.
Rania Khaled, Johnatan Reiss and Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting.
Isabel Kershner, a Times correspondent in Jerusalem, has been reporting on Israeli and Palestinian affairs since 1990.
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