Egyptian authorities and Red Cross Join Search for Hostage Remains in Gaza

Teams from Egyptian authorities and the ICRC have been authorized to locate the bodies of deceased hostages captured during the October 7th incidents, officials in Israel have confirmed.

The Israeli government stated that the teams have been allowed to search beyond the so-called "demarcation line" in the region under the control of Israeli forces in Gaza.

Hamas has handed over fifteen out of 28 deceased Israeli hostages under the initial stage of a American-mediated ceasefire deal, which mandates it to hand over all hostage bodies. The group said it is now coordinating with officials in Egypt.

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

An official representative said the Egyptian team has been permitted to collaborate with the Red Cross to locate the bodies, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the operation beyond the "yellow line".

The "demarcation line" marks the boundary running along the northern, south and eastern of Gaza that Israel pulled back to, as part of the initial phase of the ceasefire deal.

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

Egypt, along with Qatari officials and Turkey, is a principal participant of the Trump-brokered peace initiative for Gaza, which was ratified in the Egyptian resort of the resort town earlier this month.

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

The ICRC has already been heavily involved in the repatriation of hostages.

The organization does not transfer its detainees - alive or deceased - straight to the Israel Defense Forces, but instead to the Red Cross, which in turn accompanies them through the territory and hands them on to the Israeli military.

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 eighty-four percent of the territory has been destroyed completely.

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

It is now coordinating with the officials in Egypt.

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

"If the group put in greater work, they would be able to retrieve the bodies of our captives," the spokesperson commented.

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

"Some of the remains are difficult to access, but others they can return at present and, for some reason, they are not. Perhaps it has do with their disarming," he said.

He added: "Let's see what they accomplish over the coming two days. I am watching this very closely."

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• Recent photographs reveal demarcation zone deeper into the territory than expected

On the weekend, the Israeli leader announced Israel would decide which foreign forces it would allow as part of a planned international force 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 forces are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate," he said talking at the start of a cabinet meeting.

On the end of the week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "a lot of countries" had volunteered to be involved in the force - but added Israel would have to be comfortable with participants.

This appeared to be a allusion to the Turkish government, amid reports Israeli officials had rejected the country's participation.

It remained unclear, however, how this contingent could be stationed without an understanding with the organization.

The Israeli military launched a armed operation in Gaza in response to the incidents of October 7th, in which Hamas-led gunmen took the lives of about twelve hundred individuals and captured 251 additional persons as captives.

No fewer than 68,519 have been lost their lives in military actions in Gaza from that time, according to the area's Hamas-run health ministry.