🔗 Share this article

Units from Egypt and the ICRC have been granted permission to search for the bodies of deceased hostages captured during the 7 October attacks, officials in Israel have confirmed.

The authorities in Israel stated that the crews have been allowed to operate beyond the referred to as "yellow line" in the area controlled by Israeli forces in Gaza.

The group has handed over fifteen out of twenty-eight hostages who lost their lives under the first phase of a American-mediated ceasefire deal, which mandates it to hand over all remains of captives. The organization said it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities.

Donald Trump has warned Hamas to start return the bodies "promptly, or the other countries participating in this great peace will intervene".

An Israeli spokesperson said the crew from Egypt has been authorized to collaborate with the ICRC to locate the bodies, and would use digging equipment and trucks for the search past the "yellow line".

The "demarcation line" marks the border running along the northern, south and eastern of the Gaza territory that Israel pulled back to, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.

Previously, Israel has not approved the access of such teams.

Egypt, along with Qatari officials and Turkish authorities, is a principal participant of the mediated by Trump Gaza peace plan, which was ratified in the coastal city of the resort town earlier this month.

The development will be greeted positively by relatives, desperate to provide a dignified funeral.

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

The organization does not hand over its captives - alive or deceased - straight to the Israel Defense Forces, but rather 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 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 area has been reduced to rubble.

The group says it is making every effort to retrieve hostage bodies, but it encounters challenges locating them under debris of structures bombed out by the Israeli military in the region.

It is now coordinating with the Egyptian authorities.

On the weekend, an Israeli government spokesperson stated that Hamas knew where the remains were.

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

Trump 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.

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

Trump continued: "Let's see what they do over the coming two days. I am watching this with great attention."

• Palestinian children losing their lives as they await Israel to enable relocations
• The US Secretary of State states lots of nations prepared to participate in Gaza security force
• Recent photographs reveal Israeli control line deeper into Gaza than anticipated

On the weekend, the Israeli leader announced Israel would determine which international troops it would permit as part of a proposed international force in the region to help maintain the truce under Trump's plan.

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

On Friday, the American diplomat indicated "a lot of countries" had volunteered to be involved in the force - but noted Israel would have to be satisfied with those taking part.

This appeared to be a allusion to the Turkish government, amid reports Israel had vetoed the country's involvement.

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

Israel launched a armed operation in the territory in response to the incidents of October 7th, in which Hamas-led gunmen took the lives of about 1,200 people and captured two hundred fifty-one additional persons as hostages.

No fewer than 68,519 have been lost their lives in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the area's health authorities under the group's control.