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Units from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been granted permission to search for the bodies of deceased hostages captured during the October 7th incidents, officials in Israel have confirmed.

The authorities in Israel stated that the crews have been permitted to search past the referred to as "yellow line" in the area controlled by military personnel in Gaza.

Hamas has handed over 15 out of 28 hostages who lost their lives under the first phase of a US-brokered truce agreement, which mandates it to hand over all hostage bodies. The group said it is now working together with officials in Egypt.

Donald Trump has warned the organization to begin returning the remains "quickly, or the other countries participating in this great peace will take action".

An official representative said the crew from Egypt has been permitted to work with the Red Cross to locate the remains, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the operation beyond the "yellow line".

The "demarcation line" marks the boundary running along the north, south and east of the Gaza territory that Israeli forces withdrew to, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.

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

The Egyptian government, along with Qatar and Turkish authorities, is a key signatory of the Trump-brokered peace initiative for Gaza, which was ratified in the coastal city of the resort town earlier this month.

The news will be greeted positively by family members, eager to give them a proper burial.

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

The organization does not hand over its captives - living or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but rather to the ICRC, which in turn accompanies them through Gaza and hands them on to the IDF.

But the arrival of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza territory is a recent development.

After more than 24 months of intense bombardment by Israel, the United Nations estimates that as much as 84% of the territory has been reduced to rubble.

The group says it is doing its best to retrieve hostage bodies, but it faces difficulty finding them under debris of structures destroyed by the Israeli military in Gaza.

It is now coordinating with the officials in Egypt.

On Sunday, an official representative stated that the organization knew where the bodies were.

"If the group made more of an effort, they would be able to recover the bodies of our captives," the representative said.

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

"A portion of the remains are difficult to access, but others they can hand over now and, for some reason, they are not. Maybe it has to do with their demilitarization," he remarked.

He continued: "Let's see what they do over the coming two days. I am watching this with great attention."

• Gaza minors losing their lives as they wait for Israeli authorities to permit evacuations
• The US Secretary of State states many countries prepared to participate in the region's security force
• New images reveal Israeli control line deeper into the territory than expected

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Israel would decide which foreign forces it would allow as part of a planned international force in the region to help maintain the ceasefire under the former president's initiative.

"We are in command of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding foreign troops that Israel will determine which forces are unacceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate," he declared talking 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 part of the contingent - but noted Israel would have to be satisfied with those taking part.

This appeared to be a allusion to the Turkish government, amid reports Israeli officials had rejected the nation's participation.

It was still uncertain, however, how this contingent could be stationed without an agreement with Hamas.

Israel initiated a armed operation in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which militants associated with the group killed about twelve hundred people and took 251 others as hostages.

No fewer than 68,519 have been lost their lives in military actions in the region from that time, according to the territory's health authorities under the group's control.