🔗 Share this article

Units from Egypt and the ICRC have been authorized to locate the remains of deceased hostages taken during the October 7th incidents, Israeli authorities have confirmed.

The authorities in Israel stated that the teams have been permitted to operate past the referred to as "yellow line" in the area controlled by military personnel in the Gaza territory.

Hamas has handed over 15 out of 28 hostages who lost their lives under the initial stage of a US-brokered ceasefire deal, which requires it to transfer all remains of captives. The group said it is now working together with officials in Egypt.

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

An official representative indicated the crew from Egypt has been permitted to work with the ICRC to find the bodies, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the search beyond the "demarcation line".

The "demarcation line" marks the boundary running along the north, southern and eastern of Gaza that Israel withdrew to, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.

Previously, Israeli authorities has not authorized the access of these crews.

Egypt, along with Qatari officials and Turkey, is a principal participant 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.

The organization does not transfer its captives - living or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but instead 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 territory is new.

After more than two years of intense bombardment by Israel, the UN estimates that as much as eighty-four percent of the area has been reduced to rubble.

The group says it is doing its best to recover hostage bodies, but it faces difficulty locating them under debris of structures destroyed by the IDF in Gaza.

It is now coordinating with the Egyptian authorities.

On the weekend, an official representative said that the organization knew where the bodies were.

"If the group put in greater work, they would be able to retrieve the bodies of our hostages," the spokesperson commented.

The former president posted on his social media account on Saturday that action would be implemented if the remains of the deceased hostages were not returned promptly.

"A portion of the remains are difficult to access, but the rest they can return now and, for some reason, they are not. Maybe it has to do with their demilitarization," he remarked.

Trump added: "Let's see what they do over the next 48 hours. I am watching this very closely."

• Gaza minors losing their lives as they await Israel to enable evacuations
• The US Secretary of State states lots of countries prepared to join Gaza security force
• Recent photographs show demarcation zone deeper into Gaza than expected

On the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would decide which international troops 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 control of our security, and we have also stated explicitly regarding foreign troops that Israel 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 cabinet meeting.

On the end of the week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated "numerous countries" had offered to be part of the force - but noted Israeli authorities would have to be satisfied with those taking part.

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

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

The Israeli military initiated a armed operation in Gaza in response to the incidents of October 7th, in which militants associated with the group killed about twelve hundred people and captured 251 others as captives.

No fewer than sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been killed in Israeli attacks in the region since then, according to the area's health authorities under the group's control.