🔗 Share this article

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

The Israeli government announced that the crews have been allowed to search past the so-called "demarcation line" in the area under the control of military personnel in the Gaza territory.

The group has transferred 15 out of twenty-eight deceased Israeli hostages under the first phase of a American-mediated ceasefire deal, which mandates it to hand over all remains of captives. The organization stated it is now coordinating with officials in Egypt.

Donald Trump has cautions Hamas to start return the bodies "quickly, or the other countries involved in this great peace will take action".

An official representative indicated the crew from Egypt has been permitted to collaborate with the Red Cross to find the bodies, and would use digging equipment and trucks for the operation beyond the "yellow line".

The "demarcation line" marks the border running along the north, southern and east of Gaza that Israeli forces pulled back to, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.

Previously, Israeli authorities has not authorized the access of such teams.

The Egyptian government, along with Qatar and Turkey, is a key signatory of the mediated by Trump peace initiative for Gaza, which was signed in the coastal city of the resort town in recent weeks.

The development will be greeted positively by relatives, eager to give them a proper burial.

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

Hamas does not hand over its captives - living or deceased - directly to the IDF, but instead to the Red Cross, which in turn accompanies them through Gaza and hands them on to the IDF.

But the arrival of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza Strip is a recent development.

After more than two years of intense bombardment by Israel, the United Nations calculates that as much as eighty-four percent of the territory has been destroyed completely.

Hamas says it is doing its best to recover remains of captives, but it faces difficulty finding them under debris of structures destroyed by the IDF in Gaza.

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

On the weekend, an official representative stated that Hamas was aware of where the bodies were.

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

Trump shared on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that action would be taken if the remains of the deceased hostages were not returned promptly.

"Some of the remains are difficult to access, but the rest they can hand over now and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Maybe it has do with their disarming," he said.

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

• Palestinian minors dying as they wait for Israel to enable relocations
• Rubio says lots of nations prepared to join Gaza security force
• New images reveal Israeli control line further into Gaza than anticipated

On Sunday, the Israeli leader announced the country would determine which international troops it would permit as part of a planned multinational contingent in the region to help secure the truce 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 proceed," he declared speaking at the start of a government session.

On the end of the week, the American diplomat said "numerous nations" had offered to be part of the force - but noted Israel would have to be satisfied with participants.

This appeared to be a allusion to Turkey, amid reports Israel had vetoed the nation's participation.

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

The Israeli military launched a armed operation in the territory in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which militants associated with the group took the lives of about twelve hundred individuals and took two hundred fifty-one others as captives.

At least sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been killed in military actions in the region from that time, according to the area's Hamas-run health ministry.