Egypt sends equipment to Gaza to recover Israeli captives' bodies

Egypt has sent over a dozen engineering vehicles into Gaza via the Kerem Abu Salem crossing to assist with the recovery of the bodies of the remaining 13 Israeli captives, Al-Araby is reporting, citing an Egyptian official.

The official reported that six vehicles crossed into Gaza on Sunday, with another 12 entering the strip on Monday.

He added that the move was part of "ongoing Egyptian-Israeli coordination to facilitate search and rescue operations in areas that witnessed heavy fighting in recent weeks".

Israeli media reported that the entry of the vehicles was "officially approved by the Israeli army" and conducted under "joint technical supervision".

Gaza's Civil Defence has slammed the "double standards" of these efforts, given emergency teams lack the necessary equipment to recover the bodies of some 10,000 Palestinians who remain trapped beneath the rubble.

“This represents a double standard that in no way reflects humanity. True humanity requires the same care to be given to Palestinian bodies as is given to Israeli bodies," Civil Defence spokesman Mahmud Basal said.

“I think we need 10,000 days to recover the bodies of 10,000 martyrs. This means that we need a very large amount of heavy equipment… The trucks, bulldozers and excavators that have entered the Strip are nowhere near sufficient to carry out our task,” he said.

“The issue requires the integration and cooperation of all parties, so that we can immediately start working on this and recover the bodies of the martyrs."