Egyptian authorities and International Committee of the Red Cross Participate in Search for Hostage Bodies in Gaza

Teams from Egypt and the ICRC have been authorized to search for the remains of deceased hostages taken during the 7 October attacks, officials in Israel have confirmed.

The Israeli government announced that the teams have been permitted to operate past the referred to as "demarcation line" in the area controlled by Israeli forces in Gaza.

The group has transferred 15 out of 28 hostages who lost their lives under the initial stage of a US-brokered truce agreement, which mandates it to hand over all hostage bodies. The organization stated it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities.

The former US president has cautions the organization to begin returning the remains "quickly, or the other countries participating in this great peace will take action".

An Israeli spokesperson said the Egyptian team has been authorized to collaborate with the Red Cross to find the remains, and would use excavator machines and vehicles for the search past the "yellow line".

The "yellow line" marks the border running along the northern, south and eastern of the Gaza territory that Israeli forces withdrew to, as part of the initial phase of the truce agreement.

Until now, Israel has not approved the entry of these crews.

Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkey, is a principal participant of the mediated by Trump Gaza peace plan, which was ratified in the coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh in recent weeks.

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

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

Hamas does not transfer its detainees - alive or deceased - directly to the IDF, but instead to the Red Cross, which in turn accompanies them through the territory and transfers them to the IDF.

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

After more than 24 months of heavy shelling by Israeli forces, the United Nations estimates that as much as 84% of the territory has been destroyed completely.

Hamas says it is making every effort to retrieve hostage bodies, but it encounters challenges finding them under rubble of buildings destroyed by the IDF in the region.

It is now coordinating with the Egyptian authorities.

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

"If Hamas put in greater work, they would be able to retrieve the bodies of our captives," the representative commented.

Trump shared on his social media account on Saturday that action would be taken if the bodies of the hostages who died were not returned promptly.

"Some of the bodies are hard to reach, but others they can hand over now and, for some reason, they are not. Maybe it has to do with their demilitarization," he said.

Trump added: "We will observe what they do over the next 48 hours. I am watching this with great attention."

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On the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the country would determine which international troops it would permit as part of a proposed multinational contingent in the region to help maintain the ceasefire under the former president's initiative.

"We are in command of our safety, and we have also stated explicitly regarding international forces that we will decide which forces are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will proceed," he declared talking at the beginning of a government session.

On Friday, the American diplomat said "numerous nations" had offered to be involved in the contingent - but noted Israeli authorities would have to be comfortable with participants.

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

It was still uncertain, however, how this contingent could be stationed without an understanding with Hamas.

The Israeli military launched a armed operation in the territory in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about twelve hundred individuals and captured 251 others as hostages.

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