🔗 Share this article

Teams from Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been granted permission to search for the remains of hostages who perished captured during the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have verified.

The Israeli government stated that the teams have been allowed to operate past the so-called "yellow line" in the area controlled by Israeli forces in Gaza.

The group has transferred 15 out of 28 hostages who lost their lives under the initial stage of a US-brokered truce agreement, which mandates it to transfer all hostage bodies. The group said it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities.

Donald Trump has cautions Hamas to begin returning the bodies "quickly, or the other countries involved in this significant peace will take action".

An official representative indicated the Egyptian team has been authorized to work with the ICRC to find the bodies, and would use digging equipment and trucks for the operation past the "demarcation line".

The "demarcation line" indicates the boundary running along the northern, southern and east of Gaza that Israel withdrew to, as part of the first stage of the truce agreement.

Previously, Israel has not approved the entry of such teams.

Egypt, along with Qatari officials and Turkey, is a key signatory of the mediated by Trump peace initiative for Gaza, which was ratified in the Egyptian resort of the resort town in recent weeks.

The news will be welcomed by relatives, desperate to give them a proper burial.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been heavily involved in the repatriation of hostages.

Hamas does not hand over its detainees - living or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn accompanies them through the territory and hands them on to the Israeli military.

But the arrival of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza Strip is new.

After more than two years of intense bombardment by Israel, the United Nations estimates that as much as 84% of the territory has been destroyed completely.

Hamas claims it is making every effort to retrieve hostage bodies, but it faces difficulty finding them under rubble of buildings bombed out by the Israeli military in the region.

It is now coordinating with the officials in Egypt.

On Sunday, an Israeli government spokesperson said that the organization knew where the bodies were.

"If the group made more of an effort, they would be able to recover the remains of our hostages," the spokesperson said.

Trump posted on his social media account on Saturday that measures would be implemented if the bodies of the deceased hostages were not handed back quickly.

"Some of the remains are hard to reach, but others they can return at present and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Perhaps it has do with their disarming," he remarked.

He continued: "Let's see what they accomplish over the coming two days. I am watching this with great attention."

• Palestinian minors losing their lives as they wait for Israel to enable evacuations
• The US Secretary of State says many nations prepared to participate in Gaza peacekeeping unit
• New images show demarcation zone further into Gaza than expected

On Sunday, the Israeli leader announced the country would decide which international troops it would allow as part of a proposed international force in Gaza to help maintain the truce under Trump's plan.

"We are in command of our safety, and we have also stated explicitly regarding international forces that we will decide which forces are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate," he said speaking at the start of a government session.

On the end of the week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "a lot of countries" had volunteered to be involved in the force - but added Israel would have to be comfortable with those taking part.

This seemed like a allusion to Turkey, amid reports Israel had rejected the nation's participation.

It was still uncertain, however, how such a force could be stationed without an understanding with the organization.

Israel initiated a military campaign in Gaza in following the incidents of October 7th, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about twelve hundred individuals and captured 251 additional persons as hostages.

At least 68,519 have been killed in military actions in the region from that time, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.