Egyptian authorities along with International Committee of the Red Cross Join Effort for Hostage Remains in Gaza

Units from Egyptian authorities and the ICRC have been authorized to locate the bodies of hostages who perished captured during the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have confirmed.

The Israeli government stated that the teams have been allowed to operate past the referred to as "demarcation line" in the region controlled by Israeli forces in Gaza.

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

Donald Trump has cautions Hamas to start return the bodies "promptly, or the other countries involved in this significant peace will intervene".

An Israeli spokesperson said the Egyptian team has been authorized to work with the ICRC to locate the remains, and would use excavator machines and vehicles for the search beyond the "demarcation line".

The "demarcation line" marks the boundary running along the northern, southern and eastern of the Gaza territory that Israel withdrew to, as part of the initial phase of the ceasefire deal.

Until now, Israel has not authorized the access of these crews.

Egypt, along with Qatar 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, eager to give them a proper burial.

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

The organization does not transfer its captives - living or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but rather to the ICRC, which in turn escorts them through the territory and hands them on to the IDF.

But the arrival of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza Strip is a recent development.

After more than two years of intense bombardment by Israel, the UN estimates that as much as 84% of the territory has been reduced to rubble.

The group says it is making every effort to recover hostage bodies, but it faces difficulty locating them under rubble of buildings destroyed by the Israeli military in the region.

It is now coordinating with the Egyptian authorities.

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

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

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

"Some of the remains are difficult to access, but others they can hand over now and, for some reason, they are not. Perhaps it has to do with their disarming," he said.

Trump continued: "Let's see what they accomplish over the next 48 hours. I am monitoring the situation with great attention."

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On Sunday, the Israeli leader announced the country would determine which foreign forces it would permit as part of a planned international force in the region to help maintain the truce under the former president's initiative.

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

On Friday, the American diplomat said "a lot of nations" had volunteered to be involved in the force - but noted Israeli authorities would have to be satisfied with participants.

This appeared to be a reference to Turkey, amid reports Israeli officials had vetoed the nation's participation.

It remained unclear, however, how such a force could be stationed without an agreement with Hamas.

Israel launched a armed operation in the territory in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about twelve hundred people and captured two hundred fifty-one others as hostages.

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