🔗 Share this article Egyptian authorities along with International Committee of the Red Cross Participate in Search for Captive Bodies in Gaza Egyptian equipment enters into the Gaza Strip Teams from Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to locate the remains of hostages who perished taken during the October 7th incidents, Israeli authorities have confirmed. The authorities in Israel announced that the crews have been permitted to search beyond the referred to as "demarcation line" in the area under the control of Israeli forces in Gaza. The group has transferred 15 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 remains of captives. The organization said it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities. Donald Trump has warned Hamas to begin returning the bodies "quickly, or the additional nations involved in this great peace will take action". An Israeli spokesperson said the crew from Egypt has been authorized to work with the ICRC to find the bodies, and would use digging equipment and vehicles for the search past the "demarcation line". The "yellow line" indicates the border running along the northern, south and eastern of Gaza that Israel pulled back to, as part of the initial phase of the ceasefire deal. Previously, Israel has not approved the entry of such teams. Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkish authorities, is a key signatory of the mediated by Trump Gaza peace plan, which was ratified in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month. The news will be greeted positively by family members, desperate to give them a proper burial. The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been deeply engaged in the repatriation of captives. Hamas does not hand over its captives - alive 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 Israeli military. But the entry of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza territory is new. After more than two years of intense bombardment by Israel, the UN calculates that as much as eighty-four percent of the territory has been reduced to rubble. The group says it is making every effort to recover remains of captives, but it faces difficulty finding them under debris 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 bodies were. "If the group put in greater work, they would be able to retrieve the remains of our hostages," the spokesperson commented. The former president shared on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that measures would be taken if the remains of the deceased hostages were not returned promptly. "A portion of the bodies are difficult to access, but the rest they can return at present and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Maybe it has do with their demilitarization," he said. Trump added: "Let's see what they accomplish over the coming two days. I am watching this with great attention." Palestinian minors losing their lives as they await Israel to permit relocations The US Secretary of State states lots of countries prepared to participate in Gaza security force New images show Israeli control line further into Gaza than anticipated On the weekend, the Israeli leader said Israel would decide which international troops it would permit as part of a proposed international force in Gaza to help maintain the truce under the former president's initiative. "We are in control of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding foreign troops that Israel will determine which units are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will proceed," he said speaking at the beginning of a government session. On the end of the week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "a lot of nations" had volunteered to be involved in the contingent - but noted Israeli authorities would have to be comfortable with participants. This appeared to be a allusion to Turkey, amid reports Israeli officials had vetoed the nation's participation. It remained unclear, however, how this contingent could be stationed without an understanding with Hamas. The Israeli military launched a military campaign in the territory in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 individuals and took two hundred fifty-one others as hostages. No fewer than sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been lost their lives in military actions in Gaza from that time, according to the area's Hamas-run health ministry.