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Teams from Egypt and the ICRC have been granted permission to search for the remains of deceased hostages captured during the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have verified.

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

The group has transferred 15 out of twenty-eight deceased Israeli hostages under the initial stage of a American-mediated truce agreement, which mandates it to hand over all hostage bodies. The group said it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities.

Donald Trump has cautions the organization to begin returning the remains "promptly, or the additional nations involved in this great peace will intervene".

An official representative said the crew from Egypt has been permitted to collaborate with the ICRC to find the bodies, and would use excavator machines and vehicles for the search past the "yellow line".

The "demarcation line" marks the boundary running along the north, southern and east of the Gaza territory that Israel withdrew to, as part of the initial phase of the truce agreement.

Until now, Israel has not approved the access of such teams.

Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkish authorities, is a key signatory of the mediated by Trump peace initiative for Gaza, which was ratified in the coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh in recent weeks.

The development will be welcomed by family members, eager to give them a proper burial.

The ICRC has already been deeply engaged in the repatriation of hostages.

The organization does not hand over its captives - living or deceased - straight to the Israel Defense Forces, but instead to the Red Cross, which in turn accompanies them through the territory and transfers them to the Israeli military.

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

After more than 24 months of heavy shelling by Israel, the United Nations estimates that as much as 84% of the area has been destroyed completely.

The group says it is doing its best to retrieve remains of captives, but it encounters challenges locating them under rubble of structures bombed out by the IDF in Gaza.

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

On the weekend, an official representative stated that Hamas knew where the remains were.

"If the group put in greater work, they would be able to recover the remains of our hostages," the spokesperson commented.

The former president shared on his social media account on Saturday that measures would be taken if the remains of the deceased hostages were not returned promptly.

"A portion of the bodies are hard to reach, but others they can hand over at present and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Maybe it has to do with their disarming," he said.

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

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

"We are in control of our security, and we have also stated explicitly regarding foreign troops that we will decide which units are unacceptable to us, and this is how we function and will proceed," he said talking at the start of a government session.

On the end of the week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "numerous countries" had offered to be involved in the contingent - but added Israel would have to be comfortable with those taking part.

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

It remained unclear, however, how this contingent could be stationed without an understanding with the organization.

The Israeli military launched a armed operation in the territory in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 individuals and captured 251 additional persons as hostages.

No fewer than 68,519 have been killed in military actions in Gaza since then, according to the area's Hamas-run health ministry.