🔗 Share this article Egypt and International Committee of the Red Cross Join Effort for Hostage Remains in Gaza Strip International machinery enters into the Gaza territory Teams from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been granted permission to search for the bodies of hostages who perished taken during the 7 October attacks, officials in Israel have confirmed. The authorities in Israel stated that the teams have been allowed to search past the referred to as "yellow line" in the region under the control of military personnel in Gaza. The group has transferred 15 out of 28 hostages who lost their lives under the first phase of a US-brokered ceasefire deal, which mandates it to hand over all hostage bodies. The group stated it is now coordinating with officials in Egypt. Donald Trump has warned Hamas to begin returning the bodies "quickly, or the other countries involved in this great peace will take action". An Israeli spokesperson indicated the crew from Egypt has been permitted to collaborate with the ICRC to locate the bodies, and would use excavator machines and vehicles for the search beyond the "demarcation line". The "demarcation line" marks the boundary running along the northern, southern and eastern of the Gaza territory that Israel pulled back to, as part of the first stage of the truce agreement. Until now, Israel has not authorized the entry of these crews. The Egyptian government, along with Qatari officials and Turkish authorities, is a principal participant of the Trump-brokered peace initiative for Gaza, which was ratified in the coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month. The news will be greeted positively by relatives, desperate to provide a proper burial. The ICRC has already been heavily involved in the repatriation of captives. The organization does not transfer its captives - living or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but rather to the Red Cross, which in turn escorts them through the territory and transfers them to the IDF. But the arrival of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza Strip is a recent development. After more than 24 months of intense bombardment by Israeli forces, the United Nations calculates that as much as eighty-four percent of the territory has been reduced to rubble. Hamas claims it is making every effort to recover hostage bodies, but it encounters challenges locating them under rubble of structures destroyed by the Israeli military in the region. It is now working in coordination with the Egyptian authorities. On Sunday, an official representative stated that the organization knew where the bodies were. "If Hamas put in greater work, they would be able to recover the bodies of our hostages," the spokesperson commented. The former president posted on his social media account on Saturday that measures would be implemented if the remains of the deceased hostages were not returned promptly. "Some of the bodies are hard to reach, but the rest they can hand over now and, for some reason, they are not. Perhaps it has do with their disarming," he said. He added: "Let's see what they do over the next 48 hours. I am monitoring the situation with great attention." Gaza minors dying as they await Israel to enable relocations Rubio states many nations willing to join Gaza security force New images show demarcation zone deeper into Gaza than expected On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country would determine which international troops it would allow as part of a planned international force in the region to help maintain the truce under Trump's plan. "We are in control of our safety, and we have also made it clear regarding foreign troops that we will determine which forces are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate," he said speaking at the beginning of a government session. On the end of the week, the American diplomat indicated "numerous countries" had offered to be part of the force - but noted Israel would have to be satisfied with participants. This seemed like a reference to the Turkish government, amid accounts Israeli officials had rejected the country's participation. It was still uncertain, 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 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 health authorities under the group's control.