Egypt and International Committee of the Red Cross Join Search for Hostage Bodies in Gaza Strip

Teams from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to search for the bodies of deceased hostages captured during the October 7th incidents, Israeli authorities have confirmed.

The Israeli government stated that the teams have been allowed to search past the referred to as "demarcation line" in the region under the control of military personnel in Gaza.

The group has handed over fifteen out of 28 deceased Israeli hostages under the first phase of a American-mediated ceasefire deal, which mandates it to transfer all remains of captives. The group said it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities.

The former US president has warned Hamas to start return the bodies "promptly, or the other countries participating in this significant peace will intervene".

An Israeli spokesperson indicated the Egyptian team has been permitted to collaborate with the ICRC to locate the remains, and would use digging equipment and vehicles for the operation past the "yellow line".

The "yellow line" indicates the border running along the northern, southern and eastern of Gaza that Israel withdrew to, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.

Until now, Israeli authorities has not authorized the access of such teams.

Egypt, along with Qatari officials and Turkish authorities, is a principal participant of the Trump-brokered Gaza peace plan, which was signed in the Egyptian resort of the resort town earlier this month.

The development will be greeted positively by relatives, eager to provide a proper burial.

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

The organization does not hand over its detainees - living or deceased - straight to the IDF, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn accompanies them through the territory and hands them on to the Israeli military.

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

After more than two years 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 doing its best to recover remains of captives, but it faces difficulty locating them under rubble of structures destroyed by the Israeli military in the region.

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

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

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

Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on the weekend that action would be implemented if the remains of the deceased hostages were not handed back promptly.

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

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

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On the weekend, the Israeli leader said Israel would determine which foreign forces it would allow as part of a planned multinational contingent in Gaza to help secure the ceasefire under Trump's plan.

"We are in command of our safety, and we have also made it clear regarding foreign troops that we will decide which units are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will proceed," he said talking at the start of a government session.

On the end of the week, the American diplomat indicated "a lot of nations" had offered to be part of the contingent - but noted Israel would have to be comfortable with participants.

This seemed like a allusion to the Turkish government, amid reports Israeli officials had vetoed the nation's participation.

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

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

No fewer than 68,519 have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the area's Hamas-run health ministry.