Egypt and International Committee of the Red Cross Participate in Search for Captive Remains in Gaza Strip

Units from Egyptian authorities and the ICRC have been granted permission to locate the remains of deceased hostages taken during the 7 October attacks, officials in Israel have confirmed.

The authorities in Israel announced that the crews have been allowed to operate beyond the so-called "yellow line" in the region under the control of Israeli forces in the Gaza territory.

Hamas has handed over 15 out of 28 deceased Israeli hostages under the first phase of a American-mediated truce agreement, which requires it to hand over all hostage bodies. The group said it is now working together with Egyptian authorities.

The former US president has warned the organization to begin returning the bodies "promptly, or the other countries involved in this great peace will take action".

An official representative said the Egyptian team has been authorized to collaborate with the Red Cross to locate the remains, and would use digging equipment and vehicles for the operation past the "yellow line".

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

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

The Egyptian government, along with Qatar and Turkish authorities, is a key signatory of the Trump-brokered Gaza peace plan, which was signed in the coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month.

The development will be welcomed by relatives, eager to provide a proper burial.

The ICRC has already been deeply engaged in the return of captives.

The organization does not hand over its detainees - living or deceased - straight 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 arrival of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza territory is a recent development.

After more than 24 months of intense bombardment by Israel, the UN calculates that as much as 84% of the area has been destroyed completely.

Hamas claims it is doing its best to retrieve hostage bodies, but it encounters challenges locating them under debris of buildings bombed out by the IDF in the region.

It is now coordinating with the Egyptian authorities.

On the weekend, an Israeli government spokesperson said that the organization was aware of where the bodies were.

"If Hamas made more of an effort, they would be able to retrieve the remains of our hostages," the spokesperson said.

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

"Some of the remains are difficult to access, but others they can return now and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Maybe it has do with their demilitarization," he remarked.

He continued: "We will observe what they do over the next 48 hours. I am watching this very closely."

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On the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the country would decide which foreign forces 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 control of our security, and we have also stated explicitly regarding international forces that we will determine which forces are unacceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate," he declared talking at the start of a government session.

On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "a lot of nations" had offered to be involved in the contingent - but noted Israel would have to be comfortable with participants.

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

It remained unclear, however, how this contingent could be stationed without an agreement with Hamas.

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 captured two hundred fifty-one others as captives.

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