Immediately after the attacks, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom asked his Egyptian counterpart for permission to fly Israeli rescue workers into Sinai. He also asked the Egyptian foreign minister for permission to allow Israelis to pass through the border crossing without passport checks and to send between 20 and 30 buses to the Sinai to bring home the Israelis in the area, Foreign Ministry spokesman Gideon Meir said.

Israeli Search and Rescue Operation Ends in Taba
(October 10, 2004)

The IDF Homefront Command search and rescue team which was operating at the site of the terrorist attack at the Hilton Taba Hotel completed their work at the site on Sunday evening, October 10, 2004. Having reached the bottom of the building and after it became certain that there were no bodies left in the rubble of the hotel, the team left the area upon completion of the mission

The team, led by the head of the Homefront Command, Maj. Gen. Yair Nave, operated in full coordination with the Egyptian search and rescue team and security officials.

Since Thursday October 7, 2004, 32 bodies were recovered from the terror attack sites in Sinai, of which 12 bodies were identified as Israeli citizens. One woman was recovered alive from the rubble.

The identification process of the bodies continues, along with the efforts to crosscheck information received from families of the missing with the bodies recovered.