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

The Israeli government announced that the teams have been permitted to search beyond the so-called "demarcation line" in the area controlled by military personnel in Gaza.

Hamas has handed over fifteen out of 28 deceased Israeli hostages under the first phase of a American-mediated truce agreement, which requires it to hand over all remains of captives. The organization said it is now working together with officials in Egypt.

The former US president has cautions Hamas to begin returning the remains "promptly, or the other countries participating in this great peace will take action".

An official representative indicated the crew from Egypt has been authorized to work with the Red Cross to find the remains, and would use digging equipment and vehicles for the operation past the "yellow line".

The "demarcation line" indicates the border running along the northern, south and east of Gaza that Israeli forces pulled back to, as part of the first stage of the truce agreement.

Previously, Israel has not authorized the access of these crews.

The Egyptian government, along with Qatar and Turkish authorities, is a principal participant of the mediated by Trump Gaza peace plan, which was signed in the coastal city of the resort town earlier this month.

The development will be welcomed by family members, eager to provide a dignified funeral.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been heavily involved in the repatriation of hostages.

The organization does not transfer its detainees - living or deceased - straight to the Israel Defense Forces, but instead to the Red Cross, which in turn accompanies them through the territory and hands them on to the IDF.

But the arrival of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza Strip is a recent development.

After more than two years of intense bombardment by Israel, the United Nations estimates that as much as 84% of the territory has been reduced to rubble.

Hamas says it is making every effort to retrieve remains of captives, but it faces difficulty locating them under rubble of buildings bombed out by the Israeli military in Gaza.

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

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

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

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

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

He continued: "We will observe what they accomplish over the next 48 hours. I am watching this very closely."

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On the weekend, the Israeli leader announced the country would determine which foreign forces it would allow as part of a planned international force in the region to help secure the truce 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 decide which forces are not acceptable to us, and this is how we function and will continue to operate," he declared talking at the beginning of a government session.

On Friday, the American diplomat said "a lot of nations" had volunteered to be part of the force - but added Israel would have to be comfortable with participants.

This seemed like a reference to Turkey, amid reports Israel had rejected the country's involvement.

It was still uncertain, however, how such a force could be deployed without an understanding with Hamas.

Israel initiated a armed operation in the territory in following the 7 October 2023 attack, in which militants associated with the group took the lives of about twelve hundred individuals and took 251 additional persons as hostages.

At least sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the area's health authorities under the group's control.