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Teams from Egypt and the ICRC have been authorized to search for the remains of deceased hostages captured during the 7 October attacks, officials in Israel have confirmed.

The Israeli government stated that the crews have been allowed to operate past the so-called "demarcation line" in the area controlled by military personnel in the Gaza territory.

The group has transferred fifteen out of 28 deceased Israeli hostages under the first phase of a American-mediated ceasefire deal, which mandates it to hand over all hostage bodies. The organization said it is now working together with Egyptian authorities.

Donald Trump has cautions Hamas to start return the bodies "quickly, or the additional nations participating in this significant peace will intervene".

An Israeli spokesperson indicated the crew from Egypt has been authorized to collaborate with the ICRC to find the remains, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the search past the "yellow line".

The "demarcation line" marks the boundary running along the north, south and eastern of Gaza that Israel withdrew to, as part of the first stage of the truce agreement.

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

Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkey, is a key signatory of the mediated by Trump Gaza peace plan, which was ratified in the coastal city of the resort town in recent weeks.

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

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

Hamas does not hand over its captives - living or deceased - straight to the IDF, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn accompanies them through the territory and transfers them to the IDF.

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

After more than 24 months of intense bombardment by Israeli forces, the UN calculates that as much as eighty-four percent of the territory has been reduced to rubble.

The group claims it is doing its best to recover remains of captives, but it faces difficulty finding them under rubble of structures bombed out by the IDF in the region.

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

On Sunday, an official representative stated that the organization was aware of where the remains were.

"If the group made more of an effort, they would be able to recover the bodies of our hostages," the spokesperson commented.

The former president shared on his Truth Social platform on the weekend that action would be taken if the bodies of the hostages who died were not handed back promptly.

"Some of the bodies are hard to reach, but others they can hand over now and, for some reason, they are not. Perhaps it has to do with their disarming," he said.

He added: "Let's see what they accomplish over the next 48 hours. I am watching this with great attention."

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On the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the country would decide which foreign forces it would permit as part of a proposed multinational contingent in Gaza to help secure the ceasefire under Trump's plan.

"We are in control of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding international forces that Israel will determine which units are not acceptable to us, and this is how we function and will proceed," he declared speaking at the beginning of a government session.

On the end of the week, the American diplomat said "a lot of countries" had volunteered to be involved in the force - but noted Israeli authorities would have to be satisfied with those taking part.

This appeared to be a reference to the Turkish government, amid accounts Israel had vetoed the nation's involvement.

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

Israel initiated a military campaign in the territory in following the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen took the lives of about twelve hundred people and took two hundred fifty-one additional persons as hostages.

No fewer than 68,519 have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza from that time, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.