🔗 Share this article

Teams from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to locate the remains of hostages who perished taken during the 7 October attacks, officials in Israel have confirmed.

The authorities in Israel announced that the teams have been permitted to search beyond the referred to as "demarcation line" in the region under the control of Israeli forces in Gaza.

Hamas has handed over fifteen out of twenty-eight deceased Israeli hostages 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.

Donald Trump has cautions the organization to start return the remains "quickly, or the other countries participating in this great peace will take action".

An official representative indicated the crew from Egypt has been authorized to collaborate with the ICRC to locate the bodies, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the operation past the "yellow line".

The "demarcation line" marks the boundary running along the north, south and east of the Gaza territory that Israeli forces withdrew to, as part of the initial phase of the ceasefire deal.

Previously, Israel has not approved the entry 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 coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month.

The news will be greeted positively by family members, eager to provide a proper burial.

The ICRC has already been heavily involved in the repatriation of captives.

The organization 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 transfers them to the IDF.

But the entry of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza territory is new.

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

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

It is now working in coordination with the officials in Egypt.

On the weekend, an Israeli government spokesperson said 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 captives," the representative said.

The former president shared on his Truth Social platform on the weekend that measures would be implemented if the bodies of the hostages who died were not returned quickly.

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

He added: "We will observe what they accomplish over the coming two days. I am watching this very closely."

• Palestinian children losing their lives as they await Israeli authorities to enable evacuations
• Rubio says many nations prepared to participate in Gaza security force
• Recent photographs reveal demarcation zone further into the territory than anticipated

On Sunday, the Israeli leader said the country would decide which international troops it would allow as part of a proposed international force 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 Israel will decide which forces are unacceptable to us, and this is how we function and will proceed," he said speaking at the beginning of a government session.

On Friday, the American diplomat said "a lot of nations" had volunteered to be part of the contingent - but added Israeli authorities would have to be comfortable with those taking part.

This seemed like a reference to Turkey, amid accounts Israeli officials had rejected the nation's involvement.

It was still uncertain, however, how this contingent could be stationed without an agreement with the organization.

Israel initiated a armed operation in Gaza in following the incidents of October 7th, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 individuals and took two hundred fifty-one others as hostages.

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