Egypt along with International Committee of the Red Cross Participate in Effort for Hostage Remains in Gaza

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

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

The group has handed over fifteen out of 28 hostages who lost their lives under the initial stage of a American-mediated truce agreement, which mandates it to hand over all remains of captives. The group said it is now working together with officials in Egypt.

Donald Trump has warned Hamas to start return the remains "promptly, or the additional nations participating in this significant peace will intervene".

An Israeli spokesperson said the Egyptian team has been permitted to collaborate with the Red Cross to locate the remains, and would use excavator machines and vehicles for the operation past the "demarcation line".

The "yellow line" marks the boundary running along the northern, south and east of Gaza that Israeli forces pulled back to, as part of the initial phase of the ceasefire deal.

Until now, Israel has not authorized the access of these crews.

Egypt, along with Qatari officials and Turkey, is a key signatory of the mediated by Trump peace initiative for Gaza, which was ratified in the coastal city of the resort town in recent weeks.

The development will be greeted positively by family members, desperate to give them a proper burial.

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

Hamas does not transfer its detainees - living or deceased - straight 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 Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza territory is a recent development.

After more than two years of heavy shelling by Israel, the UN estimates that as much as 84% of the territory has been reduced to rubble.

Hamas says it is doing its best to retrieve remains of captives, but it faces difficulty locating them under rubble of buildings destroyed by the Israeli military in Gaza.

It is now working in coordination with the Egyptian authorities.

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

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

The former president shared on his social media account on the weekend that measures would be taken if the bodies of the hostages who died were not returned promptly.

"A portion 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 remarked.

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

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On Sunday, the Israeli leader announced Israel would determine which foreign forces it would permit as part of a proposed international force in Gaza to help maintain the truce 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 forces are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate," he declared talking at the beginning of a cabinet meeting.

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

This appeared to be a allusion to Turkey, amid accounts Israeli officials had vetoed the country's involvement.

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

The Israeli military initiated a military campaign 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 captured 251 additional persons as captives.

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