🔗 Share this article

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

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

The group has transferred 15 out of twenty-eight hostages who lost their lives under the first phase of a US-brokered truce agreement, which requires it to hand over all remains of captives. The group said it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities.

The former US president has cautions the organization to start return the remains "promptly, or the other countries participating in this great peace will intervene".

An official representative said the crew from Egypt has been permitted to work with the ICRC to locate the remains, and would use digging equipment and vehicles for the search past the "yellow line".

The "demarcation line" marks the boundary running along the northern, south and east of the Gaza territory that Israeli forces withdrew to, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.

Until now, Israeli authorities has not approved the access of such teams.

The Egyptian government, along with Qatari officials and Turkish authorities, is a principal participant of the mediated by Trump peace initiative for Gaza, which was signed in the coastal city of the resort town in recent weeks.

The news will be greeted positively by family members, desperate to provide a proper burial.

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

The organization does not hand over its detainees - living or deceased - directly to the IDF, but rather to the Red Cross, which in turn escorts them through the territory and hands them on to the IDF.

But the arrival of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza territory is new.

After more than 24 months 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 making every effort to retrieve remains of captives, but it encounters challenges locating them under rubble of structures destroyed by the Israeli military in the region.

It is now working in coordination with the Egyptian authorities.

On Sunday, an Israeli government spokesperson stated that Hamas knew where the bodies were.

"If the group put in greater work, they would be able to retrieve the remains of our hostages," the representative commented.

Trump shared on his social media account on Saturday that measures would be implemented if the remains of the deceased hostages were not returned promptly.

"Some of the bodies are hard to reach, but the rest they can return now and, for some reason, they are not. Perhaps it has to do with their demilitarization," he remarked.

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

• Palestinian children dying as they await Israel to enable relocations
• Rubio states lots of nations willing to participate in Gaza peacekeeping unit
• New images reveal demarcation zone deeper into Gaza than anticipated

On Sunday, the Israeli leader said the country would decide which international troops it would allow as part of a planned multinational contingent in the region to help secure the ceasefire under the former president's initiative.

"We are in control of our safety, and we have also stated explicitly regarding foreign troops that Israel will determine which units are unacceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will proceed," he said speaking at the start of a cabinet meeting.

On Friday, the American diplomat said "numerous countries" had volunteered to be involved in the force - but added Israel would have to be satisfied with participants.

This seemed like a reference to the Turkish government, amid accounts Israel had rejected the country's participation.

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

Israel initiated a armed operation in Gaza in response to 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.

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