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Teams from Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been granted permission to locate the remains of deceased hostages captured during the October 7th incidents, Israeli authorities have verified.

The Israeli government announced that the crews have been permitted to search beyond the so-called "yellow line" in the region under the control of Israeli forces in the Gaza territory.

Hamas has transferred fifteen out of twenty-eight hostages who lost their lives under the first phase of a US-brokered ceasefire deal, which mandates it to transfer all hostage bodies. The group stated it is now working together with Egyptian authorities.

Donald Trump has cautions Hamas to start return the bodies "promptly, or the other countries participating in this significant peace will take action".

An Israeli spokesperson said the Egyptian team has been authorized to work with the Red Cross to locate the remains, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the operation beyond the "demarcation line".

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

Previously, Israeli authorities has not approved the entry of such teams.

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

The development will be welcomed by relatives, eager to provide a dignified funeral.

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

Hamas does not hand over its detainees - alive or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but rather to the Red Cross, which in turn accompanies them through the territory and hands them on to the IDF.

But the entry of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza territory is new.

After more than 24 months of heavy shelling by Israel, the United Nations estimates that as much as 84% of the territory has been destroyed completely.

The group claims it is doing its best to recover hostage bodies, but it encounters challenges finding them under debris of structures bombed out by the Israeli military in Gaza.

It is now coordinating with the officials in Egypt.

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

"If Hamas 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 the weekend that measures would be implemented if the bodies of the deceased hostages were not handed back promptly.

"A portion of the remains are hard to reach, but others they can return now and, for some reason, they are not. Maybe it has to do with their demilitarization," he remarked.

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

• Gaza minors losing their lives as they await Israeli authorities to permit evacuations
• The US Secretary of State states lots of nations willing to join the region's peacekeeping unit
• Recent photographs reveal Israeli control line deeper into the territory than anticipated

On the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Israel would determine which foreign forces it would permit as part of a planned multinational contingent in the region to help secure the truce under Trump's plan.

"We are in control of our safety, and we have also made it clear regarding foreign troops that Israel will decide which forces are unacceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will proceed," he declared talking at the beginning of a government session.

On the end of the week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "a lot of countries" had offered to be part of the contingent - but added Israeli authorities would have to be comfortable with those taking part.

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

It was still uncertain, however, how this contingent could be deployed without an understanding with Hamas.

Israel initiated a armed operation in Gaza in following the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about twelve hundred individuals and took two hundred fifty-one additional persons as hostages.

No fewer than sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the area's Hamas-run health ministry.