🔗 Share this article

Units from Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been granted permission to search for the remains of hostages who perished taken during the October 7th incidents, Israeli authorities have confirmed.

The authorities in Israel announced that the crews have been allowed to operate beyond the so-called "demarcation line" in the region controlled by military personnel in Gaza.

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

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

An official representative said the Egyptian team has been permitted to work with the Red Cross to find the remains, and would use digging equipment and trucks for the operation past the "yellow line".

The "yellow line" indicates the border running along the northern, south and east of Gaza that Israeli forces withdrew to, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.

Until now, Israeli authorities has not authorized the entry of such teams.

Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkey, is a key signatory of the mediated by Trump peace initiative for Gaza, which was ratified in the Egyptian resort of the resort town earlier this month.

The news will be greeted positively by family members, desperate to give them a dignified funeral.

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 IDF, 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 UN estimates that as much as eighty-four percent of the territory has been reduced to rubble.

Hamas claims it is doing its best to recover hostage bodies, but it encounters challenges locating them under rubble of buildings destroyed by the IDF in Gaza.

It is now coordinating with the officials in Egypt.

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

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

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

"A portion of the bodies are hard to reach, but the rest they can hand over at present and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Perhaps it has do with their demilitarization," he remarked.

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

• Gaza children losing their lives as they wait for Israel to permit evacuations
• The US Secretary of State says many nations willing to participate in the region's security force
• Recent photographs show Israeli control line deeper into the territory than anticipated

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the country would determine which foreign forces it would permit as part of a proposed international force in the region to help secure the truce under Trump's plan.

"We are in command of our security, and we have also stated explicitly regarding foreign troops that we will determine which units are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will proceed," he declared speaking at the beginning of a government session.

On the end of the week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated "a lot of countries" had offered to be part of the force - but noted Israel would have to be satisfied with participants.

This appeared to be a reference to the Turkish government, amid accounts Israeli officials had vetoed the nation's participation.

It was still uncertain, however, how such a force could be deployed without an agreement with Hamas.

Israel launched a military campaign in the territory in following the incidents of October 7th, in which militants associated with the group killed about twelve hundred individuals and captured two hundred fifty-one additional persons as captives.

At least sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been lost their lives in Israeli attacks in the region from that time, according to the territory's health authorities under the group's control.