🔗 Share this article

Units from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to locate 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 search beyond the so-called "demarcation line" in the region controlled by military personnel in Gaza.

The group has transferred fifteen out of 28 deceased Israeli hostages under the initial stage of a US-brokered ceasefire deal, which mandates it to transfer all hostage bodies. The group said it is now working together with officials in Egypt.

Donald Trump has warned the organization to start return the remains "promptly, or the other countries involved in this significant peace will take action".

An official representative said the Egyptian team has been authorized to work with the Red Cross to find the remains, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the search past the "demarcation line".

The "demarcation line" indicates the boundary running along the northern, south and east of Gaza that Israeli forces withdrew to, as part of the initial phase of the truce agreement.

Previously, Israel has not authorized the access of these crews.

Egypt, along with Qatari officials and Turkish authorities, is a principal participant of the mediated by Trump Gaza peace plan, which was signed in the coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month.

The news will be welcomed by relatives, eager to give them a dignified funeral.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been deeply engaged in the return of captives.

The organization does not transfer its detainees - alive or deceased - directly to the IDF, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn accompanies them through Gaza and hands them on to the IDF.

But the entry of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza Strip is a recent development.

After more than two years of heavy shelling by Israel, the United Nations estimates that as much as eighty-four percent of the area has been reduced to rubble.

The group claims it is doing its best to retrieve remains of captives, but it faces difficulty locating them under rubble of structures destroyed by the IDF in Gaza.

It is now coordinating with the officials in Egypt.

On Sunday, an Israeli government spokesperson stated that Hamas was aware of where the bodies were.

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

Trump posted on his social media account on Saturday that measures 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 at present and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Perhaps it has to do with their disarming," he said.

Trump added: "Let's see what they accomplish over the next 48 hours. I am monitoring the situation very closely."

• Palestinian children dying as they await Israeli authorities to permit relocations
• Rubio says lots of nations willing to join Gaza security force
• Recent photographs show demarcation zone deeper into Gaza than anticipated

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

"We are in control of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding foreign troops that we will determine which forces are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will proceed," he said speaking at the beginning of a cabinet meeting.

On Friday, the American diplomat indicated "numerous countries" had volunteered to be involved in the force - but added Israeli authorities would have to be comfortable with participants.

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

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

Israel launched a armed operation in the territory in following the 7 October 2023 attack, in which militants associated with the group took the lives of about 1,200 individuals and took two hundred fifty-one additional persons as captives.

At least 68,519 have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza from that time, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.