🔗 Share this article Egyptian authorities and International Committee of the Red Cross Participate in Search for Captive Remains in Gaza Strip Egyptian machinery crosses into the Gaza territory Units from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to search for the bodies of deceased hostages captured during the 7 October attacks, officials in Israel have verified. The Israeli government announced that the crews have been permitted to operate past the so-called "yellow line" in the area under the control of military personnel in Gaza. The group has transferred 15 out of twenty-eight hostages who lost their lives under the first phase of a US-brokered ceasefire deal, which requires it to transfer all hostage bodies. The group said it is now working together with Egyptian authorities. The former US president has cautions the organization to begin returning the bodies "promptly, or the additional nations involved in this great peace will intervene". An Israeli spokesperson said the Egyptian team has been permitted to work with the Red Cross to find the remains, and would use digging equipment and trucks for the search beyond the "yellow line". The "yellow line" indicates the boundary running along the northern, southern and eastern of Gaza that Israeli forces pulled back to, as part of the initial phase of the ceasefire deal. Previously, Israeli authorities has not approved the entry of such teams. The Egyptian government, along with Qatar and Turkey, is a key signatory of the mediated by Trump Gaza peace plan, which was signed in the coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh in recent weeks. The news will be greeted positively by relatives, eager to provide a dignified funeral. The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been deeply engaged in the repatriation of captives. 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 Gaza and transfers them to the Israeli military. But the arrival of Egyptian excavation teams inside the Gaza Strip is new. After more than 24 months of heavy shelling by Israel, the United Nations estimates that as much as 84% of the territory has been reduced to rubble. Hamas claims it is making every effort to retrieve hostage bodies, but it encounters challenges finding them under rubble of structures destroyed by the IDF in Gaza. It is now coordinating with the officials in Egypt. On the weekend, an official representative said that Hamas knew where the remains were. "If the group put in greater work, they would be able to recover the bodies of our hostages," the representative said. The former president shared on his social media account on the weekend that action would be implemented if the bodies of the deceased hostages were not returned promptly. "Some of the remains are hard to reach, but others they can return at present and, for some reason, they are not. Perhaps it has to do with their demilitarization," he said. Trump continued: "Let's see what they accomplish over the next 48 hours. I am monitoring the situation very closely." Palestinian minors losing their lives as they wait for Israeli authorities to permit evacuations The US Secretary of State says lots of countries willing to join the region's peacekeeping unit New images show Israeli control line deeper into Gaza than anticipated On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country would determine which international troops it would allow as part of a proposed international force in the region to help secure the ceasefire under the former president's initiative. "We are in command of our security, 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 proceed," he declared 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 force - but added Israel would have to be comfortable with participants. This seemed like a allusion to Turkey, amid accounts Israel had vetoed the country's participation. It was still uncertain, however, how such a force could be deployed without an agreement with Hamas. Israel initiated a military campaign in the territory in following the 7 October 2023 attack, in which militants associated with the group took the lives of about 1,200 people and took 251 others as captives. At least 68,519 have been lost their lives in military actions in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.