🔗 Share this article

Units from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to search for the remains of hostages who perished captured during the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have confirmed.

The authorities in Israel stated that the teams have been allowed to operate beyond the referred to as "demarcation line" in the area controlled by military personnel in Gaza.

Hamas has transferred fifteen out of twenty-eight deceased Israeli hostages under the initial stage of a US-brokered ceasefire deal, which requires it to transfer all hostage bodies. The organization said it is now working together with Egyptian authorities.

Donald Trump has warned the organization to start return the bodies "promptly, or the other countries participating in this significant peace will intervene".

An Israeli spokesperson said the Egyptian team has been permitted to collaborate with the Red Cross to find the remains, and would use digging equipment and vehicles for the search beyond the "demarcation line".

The "yellow line" indicates the border running along the north, south and eastern of Gaza that Israeli forces pulled back to, as part of the first stage of the truce agreement.

Previously, Israel has not authorized the access of these crews.

The Egyptian government, along with Qatari officials and Turkish authorities, is a key signatory of the Trump-brokered Gaza peace plan, which was ratified in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month.

The development will be greeted positively by family members, desperate to provide a dignified funeral.

The ICRC has already been deeply engaged in the repatriation of hostages.

The organization does not transfer its detainees - living or deceased - directly to the IDF, but instead to the Red Cross, which in turn escorts them through the territory and hands them on to the IDF.

But the arrival of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza territory is a recent development.

After more than two years of heavy shelling by Israel, the United Nations calculates that as much as eighty-four percent of the area has been reduced to rubble.

The group claims it is doing its best to retrieve hostage bodies, but it faces difficulty locating them under debris of structures bombed out by the IDF in Gaza.

It is now coordinating with the Egyptian authorities.

On the weekend, an Israeli government spokesperson stated that Hamas was aware of where the remains were.

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

Trump shared on his social media account on Saturday that measures would be taken if the remains of the deceased hostages were not handed back promptly.

"A portion of the bodies are difficult to access, but the rest they can return at present and, for some reason, they are not. Perhaps it has do with their disarming," he remarked.

He added: "Let's see what they do over the next 48 hours. I am watching this with great attention."

• Gaza minors dying as they wait for Israel to permit relocations
• Rubio says many countries prepared to join the region's peacekeeping unit
• New images reveal Israeli control line further into Gaza than anticipated

On the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the country would decide which foreign forces it would permit as part of a planned multinational contingent in Gaza to help maintain the ceasefire under the former president's initiative.

"We are in command of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding foreign troops that we will determine which units are unacceptable to us, and this is how we function and will continue to operate," he said speaking at the beginning of a cabinet meeting.

On the end of the week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated "a lot of nations" had offered to be part of the force - but added Israel would have to be comfortable with those taking part.

This seemed like a allusion to the Turkish government, amid accounts Israel had vetoed the country's participation.

It remained unclear, however, how this contingent could be stationed without an understanding with the organization.

The Israeli military launched a armed operation in the territory in following the incidents of October 7th, in which militants associated with the group took the lives of about 1,200 individuals and captured two hundred fifty-one additional persons as captives.

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