🔗 Share this article

Units from Egyptian authorities and the ICRC have been authorized to search for the bodies of deceased hostages taken during the October 7th incidents, officials in Israel have confirmed.

The Israeli government stated that the crews have been allowed to search beyond the referred to as "demarcation line" in the region under the control of Israeli forces in the Gaza territory.

Hamas has handed over 15 out of twenty-eight hostages who lost their lives under the initial stage of a US-brokered truce agreement, which mandates it to hand over all remains of captives. The organization stated it is now working together with officials in Egypt.

The former US president has cautions Hamas to start return the bodies "promptly, or the additional nations involved in this significant peace will intervene".

An official representative indicated the Egyptian team has been permitted to work with the Red Cross to find the remains, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the operation past the "demarcation line".

The "yellow line" indicates the border running along the north, south and east of the Gaza territory that Israeli forces pulled back to, as part of the initial phase of the truce agreement.

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

The Egyptian government, along with Qatari officials and Turkey, is a key signatory of the mediated by Trump Gaza peace plan, which was signed in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in recent weeks.

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

The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been deeply engaged in the repatriation of captives.

Hamas does not transfer its captives - alive or deceased - straight to the IDF, but instead to the Red Cross, which in turn accompanies them through the territory and hands them on to the IDF.

But the arrival of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza territory is new.

After more than two years of heavy shelling by Israel, the UN estimates that as much as 84% of the territory has been destroyed completely.

The group says it is doing its best to retrieve remains of captives, but it encounters challenges finding them under rubble of buildings bombed out by the IDF in the region.

It is now coordinating with the Egyptian authorities.

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

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

The former president shared on his Truth Social platform on the weekend that action would be taken if the remains of the deceased hostages were not returned quickly.

"Some of the remains are hard to reach, but others they can hand over now and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Maybe it has do with their disarming," he remarked.

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

• Palestinian children losing their lives as they wait for Israel to enable evacuations
• Rubio states many nations prepared to participate in Gaza peacekeeping unit
• Recent photographs show demarcation zone deeper into the territory than anticipated

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

"We are in command of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding international forces that we will determine which forces are not acceptable to us, and this is how we function and will continue to operate," he declared speaking at the start of a government session.

On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "numerous nations" had offered to be involved in the contingent - but added Israeli authorities would have to be comfortable with participants.

This appeared to be a allusion to Turkey, amid accounts Israeli officials had rejected the country's participation.

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

The Israeli military initiated a armed operation in the territory in response to the incidents of October 7th, in which militants associated with the group took the lives of about twelve hundred people and took 251 additional persons as captives.

At least 68,519 have been lost their lives in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the area's Hamas-run health ministry.