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Units from Egyptian authorities and the ICRC have been authorized to search for the bodies of hostages who perished captured during the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have confirmed.

The Israeli government stated that the teams have been permitted to operate past the so-called "yellow line" in the region under the control of Israeli forces in Gaza.

The group has handed over fifteen out of twenty-eight hostages who lost their lives under the first phase of a US-brokered ceasefire deal, which requires it to transfer all hostage bodies. The group stated it is now coordinating with officials in Egypt.

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

An official representative indicated the crew from Egypt has been permitted to work with the ICRC to locate the bodies, and would use digging equipment and vehicles for the operation past the "demarcation line".

The "yellow line" marks the border running along the north, south and east of Gaza that Israel withdrew to, as part of the initial phase of the truce agreement.

Previously, Israel has not approved the access of such teams.

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

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

The ICRC has already been deeply engaged in the repatriation of hostages.

The organization does not transfer its detainees - alive or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but rather to the ICRC, 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 territory is a recent development.

After more than 24 months of intense bombardment by Israeli forces, the United Nations calculates that as much as 84% of the area has been reduced to rubble.

The group says 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 the region.

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

On Sunday, an official representative said that Hamas was aware of where the bodies were.

"If the group made more of an effort, they would be able to recover the remains of our captives," the spokesperson commented.

Trump shared on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that action would be taken if the bodies of the hostages who died were not returned quickly.

"Some of the remains are hard to reach, but others they can return at present and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Maybe it has do with their disarming," he remarked.

Trump continued: "We will observe what they accomplish over the coming two days. I am monitoring the situation with great attention."

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On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Israel would determine which international troops it would allow as part of a planned multinational contingent in the region to help maintain the ceasefire under Trump's plan.

"We are in command of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding international forces that we will decide which units are not acceptable to us, and this is how we function and will proceed," he said speaking at the start of a cabinet meeting.

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

This seemed like a allusion to Turkey, amid reports Israeli officials had vetoed the country's involvement.

It remained unclear, however, how such a force could be stationed without an understanding with Hamas.

Israel launched a armed operation in the territory in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen took the lives of about twelve hundred individuals and took 251 additional persons as captives.

No fewer than 68,519 have been killed in military actions in Gaza from that time, according to the area's health authorities under the group's control.