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Teams from Egypt and the ICRC have been authorized to search for the bodies of deceased hostages taken during the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have confirmed.

The Israeli government announced that the crews have been permitted to operate beyond the referred to as "demarcation line" in the area under the control of Israeli forces in Gaza.

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

Donald Trump has cautions Hamas to start return the remains "promptly, or the additional nations participating in this great peace will take action".

An official representative said the Egyptian team has been permitted to collaborate with the Red Cross to find the bodies, and would use excavator machines and vehicles for the search beyond the "yellow line".

The "yellow line" indicates the boundary running along the north, south and east of the Gaza territory that Israel pulled back to, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.

Previously, Israel has not authorized the access of such teams.

The Egyptian government, along with Qatari officials and Turkey, is a principal participant of the Trump-brokered Gaza peace plan, which was ratified in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month.

The news will be welcomed by relatives, eager to give them a proper burial.

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

Hamas does not hand over its detainees - living or deceased - directly to the IDF, but instead to the Red Cross, which in turn escorts them through Gaza and hands them on to the Israeli military.

But the entry of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza territory is new.

After more than two years of heavy shelling by Israeli forces, the UN calculates that as much as 84% of the area has been reduced to rubble.

The group says it is making every effort to retrieve remains of captives, but it encounters challenges locating them under debris of buildings destroyed by the IDF in Gaza.

It is now working in coordination with the Egyptian authorities.

On the weekend, an Israeli government spokesperson said that Hamas knew where the bodies were.

"If the group made more of an effort, they would be able to retrieve the remains of our captives," the representative commented.

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

"A portion of the bodies are difficult to access, but the rest they can hand over at present and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Maybe it has to do with their disarming," he remarked.

Trump added: "We will observe what they do over the coming two days. I am monitoring the situation with great attention."

• Gaza children dying as they await Israeli authorities to enable evacuations
• The US Secretary of State states many nations willing to participate in Gaza peacekeeping unit
• New images reveal demarcation zone deeper into Gaza than anticipated

On the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would determine which foreign forces it would permit as part of a proposed international force in the region to help secure the truce under Trump's plan.

"We are in control of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding international forces that we will determine which forces are unacceptable to us, and this is how we function and will proceed," he said talking at the start of a cabinet meeting.

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

This seemed like a reference to the Turkish government, amid reports Israel had rejected the nation's participation.

It was still uncertain, however, how such a force could be stationed without an understanding with the organization.

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

At least sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been killed in military actions in Gaza since then, according to the area's Hamas-run health ministry.