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Units from Egyptian authorities and the ICRC have been granted permission to search for the remains of hostages who perished taken during the October 7th incidents, officials in Israel have confirmed.

The Israeli government announced that the teams have been allowed to operate past the so-called "demarcation line" in the region under the control of military personnel in the Gaza territory.

The group has transferred fifteen out of twenty-eight deceased Israeli hostages under the initial stage of a US-brokered truce agreement, which requires it to hand over all remains of captives. The group said it is now coordinating with officials in Egypt.

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

An official representative said the crew from Egypt has been authorized to work with the ICRC to locate the remains, and would use excavator machines and vehicles for the operation beyond the "yellow line".

The "demarcation line" indicates the boundary running along the north, southern and east of the Gaza territory that Israeli forces pulled back to, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.

Until now, Israel has not authorized the entry of such teams.

The Egyptian government, along with Qatari officials and Turkey, is a principal participant of the Trump-brokered Gaza peace plan, which was ratified in the Egyptian resort of the resort town in recent weeks.

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

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

The organization does not transfer its detainees - alive or deceased - straight to the Israel Defense Forces, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn escorts them through Gaza and transfers them to the IDF.

But the arrival of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza territory is new.

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 destroyed completely.

The group says it is making every effort to recover remains of captives, but it faces difficulty locating them under rubble of structures destroyed by the IDF in the region.

It is now coordinating with the officials in Egypt.

On Sunday, an Israeli government spokesperson said that Hamas was aware of where the bodies were.

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

Trump posted on his social media account on Saturday that action would be taken if the bodies of the hostages who died were not handed back quickly.

"A portion of the bodies are difficult to access, but the rest they can hand over at present and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Perhaps it has to do with their disarming," he said.

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

• Gaza minors dying as they wait for Israel to permit relocations
• The US Secretary of State states lots of nations prepared to participate in the region's security force
• Recent photographs reveal demarcation zone deeper into the territory than anticipated

On the weekend, the Israeli leader announced the country would decide which foreign forces it would permit as part of a planned multinational contingent in the region to help secure the ceasefire under the former president's initiative.

"We are in command of our safety, and we have also stated explicitly regarding foreign troops that Israel will determine which units are not acceptable to us, and this is how we function and will continue to operate," he declared speaking at the beginning of a cabinet meeting.

On Friday, the American diplomat said "numerous nations" had volunteered to be involved in the force - but noted Israeli authorities would have to be comfortable with participants.

This appeared to be a reference to the Turkish government, amid reports Israel had rejected the nation's participation.

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

The Israeli military launched a military campaign in the territory in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which militants associated with the group killed about twelve hundred individuals and captured two hundred fifty-one additional persons as captives.

At least sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been lost their lives in Israeli attacks in the region from that time, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.