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Units from Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been granted permission to locate the remains of hostages who perished captured during the October 7th incidents, Israeli authorities have confirmed.

The Israeli government stated that the teams have been allowed to operate past the so-called "demarcation line" in the area controlled by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Hamas has transferred 15 out of 28 hostages who lost their lives under the first phase of a American-mediated ceasefire deal, which mandates it to hand over all remains of captives. The group stated it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities.

The former US president has warned Hamas to start return the remains "promptly, or the additional nations involved in this great peace will take action".

An Israeli spokesperson said the Egyptian team has been permitted to collaborate with the ICRC to find the bodies, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the operation past the "demarcation line".

The "demarcation line" indicates the border running along the north, southern and east of Gaza that Israel pulled back to, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.

Until now, Israel has not approved the access of these crews.

Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkey, is a key signatory of the mediated by Trump Gaza peace plan, which was ratified in the Egyptian resort of the resort town earlier this month.

The news will be welcomed by relatives, desperate to give them a dignified funeral.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been heavily involved in the return of captives.

Hamas does not hand over its captives - living or deceased - straight to the Israel Defense Forces, but rather to the Red Cross, which in turn escorts them through the territory and transfers them to the IDF.

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

After more than two years of heavy shelling by Israel, the United Nations calculates that as much as 84% of the area has been destroyed completely.

The group claims it is making every effort to retrieve hostage bodies, but it encounters challenges locating them under rubble of structures destroyed 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 was aware of where the bodies were.

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

The former president shared on his social media account on the weekend that action would be implemented if the remains of the hostages who died were not handed back promptly.

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

He continued: "We will observe what they accomplish over the next 48 hours. I am monitoring the situation very closely."

• Palestinian children losing their lives as they wait for Israeli authorities to permit relocations
• The US Secretary of State says lots of nations prepared to participate in the region's peacekeeping unit
• Recent photographs reveal demarcation zone further into Gaza than anticipated

On Sunday, the Israeli leader announced the country would decide which foreign forces it would allow as part of a planned international force in Gaza to help maintain the truce under Trump's plan.

"We are in control of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding foreign troops that Israel will determine which forces are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate," he declared talking at the start of a government session.

On the end of the week, the American diplomat indicated "numerous nations" had volunteered to be part of the contingent - but added Israel would have to be comfortable with participants.

This appeared to be a reference to the Turkish government, amid accounts Israeli officials had vetoed the country's involvement.

It remained unclear, however, how this contingent could be deployed without an agreement with Hamas.

The Israeli military launched 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 twelve hundred individuals and took 251 additional persons as captives.

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