đź”— Share this article Egyptian authorities along with International Committee of the Red Cross Join Effort for Captive Bodies in Gaza Egyptian machinery crosses into the Gaza territory Teams from Egyptian authorities and the ICRC have been granted permission to locate the bodies of hostages who perished taken during the October 7th incidents, Israeli authorities have verified. The Israeli government announced that the crews have been permitted to search past the referred to as "demarcation line" in the region under the control of Israeli forces in the Gaza territory. Hamas has handed over fifteen out of 28 hostages who lost their lives under the initial stage of a US-brokered truce agreement, which requires it to hand over all hostage bodies. The group said it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities. Donald Trump has warned the organization to start return the bodies "quickly, or the other countries participating in this great peace will take action". An official representative said the Egyptian team has been authorized to collaborate with the Red Cross to find the remains, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the operation 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 ceasefire deal. Previously, Israel has not approved the access of such teams. The Egyptian government, along with Qatari officials and Turkish authorities, is a principal participant of the mediated by Trump Gaza peace plan, which was ratified in the Egyptian resort of the resort town earlier this month. The development will be greeted positively by family members, desperate to provide a dignified funeral. The ICRC has already been deeply engaged in the repatriation of captives. The organization does not hand over its detainees - alive or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but instead to the Red Cross, which in turn accompanies them through Gaza and transfers them to the Israeli military. But the entry of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza Strip is new. After more than two years of intense bombardment by Israeli forces, the United Nations estimates that as much as eighty-four percent of the territory has been reduced to rubble. The group claims it is making every effort to recover hostage bodies, but it faces difficulty finding them under debris of structures destroyed by the Israeli military in the region. It is now coordinating with the Egyptian authorities. On the weekend, 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 recover the bodies of our captives," the spokesperson said. The former president posted on his social media account on Saturday that action would be taken if the remains of the deceased hostages were not returned promptly. "A portion of the remains are hard to reach, but others they can hand over at present and, for some reason, they are not. Maybe it has to do with their demilitarization," he said. He continued: "Let's see what they accomplish over the coming two days. I am monitoring the situation with great attention." Palestinian children dying as they wait for Israeli authorities to permit evacuations The US Secretary of State states many nations prepared to participate in Gaza peacekeeping unit New images reveal Israeli control line deeper into the territory than expected On the weekend, the Israeli leader announced the country would determine which foreign forces it would allow 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 international forces that Israel will decide which forces are unacceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate," he declared talking at the start of a government session. On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "numerous countries" had offered to be part of the contingent - but noted Israeli authorities would have to be comfortable with those taking part. This appeared to be a allusion to the Turkish government, amid accounts Israel had vetoed the nation's participation. It was still uncertain, however, how this contingent could be deployed without an agreement with Hamas. The Israeli military initiated a armed operation in Gaza in following the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen took the lives of about 1,200 individuals and took 251 others as hostages. At least sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been lost their lives in military actions in Gaza from that time, according to the territory's health authorities under the group's control.