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Units from Egyptian authorities and the ICRC have been authorized to locate the remains of hostages who perished taken during the October 7th incidents, Israeli authorities have verified.

The authorities in Israel stated that the teams have been permitted to search past the so-called "demarcation line" in the area under the control of Israeli forces in the Gaza territory.

Hamas has transferred fifteen out of twenty-eight deceased Israeli hostages under the first phase of a American-mediated ceasefire deal, which requires it to transfer all hostage bodies. The group said it is now working together with officials in Egypt.

The former US president has warned Hamas to begin returning the remains "promptly, or the additional nations participating in this significant peace will intervene".

An Israeli spokesperson said the Egyptian team has been authorized to work with the Red Cross to find the remains, and would use digging equipment and vehicles for the operation past the "yellow line".

The "yellow line" indicates the boundary running along the northern, south and eastern of Gaza that Israeli forces withdrew to, as part of the first stage of the truce agreement.

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

The Egyptian government, along with Qatar and Turkey, is a principal participant of the mediated by Trump peace initiative for Gaza, which was ratified in the coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh in recent weeks.

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

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

Hamas does not transfer its captives - living or deceased - straight to the Israel Defense Forces, but rather to the Red Cross, which in turn escorts them through Gaza and transfers them to the Israeli military.

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

After more than 24 months of heavy shelling 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 making every effort to recover hostage bodies, but it faces difficulty locating them under rubble of buildings bombed out by the Israeli military in Gaza.

It is now working in coordination with the Egyptian authorities.

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

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

Trump shared on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that measures would be taken if the bodies of the hostages who died were not handed back promptly.

"A portion of the remains are difficult to access, but the rest they can return now and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Perhaps it has to do with their demilitarization," he said.

Trump added: "We will observe what they accomplish over the next 48 hours. I am watching this very closely."

• Palestinian children dying as they await Israeli authorities to permit relocations
• The US Secretary of State says lots of nations willing to join the region's security force
• New images show Israeli control line further into Gaza than anticipated

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would decide which international troops it would allow as part of a proposed multinational contingent in Gaza to help maintain the truce under the former president's initiative.

"We are in command of our safety, and we have also stated explicitly regarding international forces that we will determine which units are not acceptable to us, and this is how we function and will proceed," he said speaking at the start of a government session.

On Friday, the American diplomat said "a lot of countries" had volunteered to be part of the force - but noted Israel would have to be comfortable with participants.

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

It remained unclear, however, how this contingent could be deployed without an understanding with Hamas.

Israel initiated a military campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about twelve hundred individuals and took two hundred fifty-one others as hostages.

At least 68,519 have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health authorities under the group's control.