đź”— Share this article Egyptian authorities along with Red Cross Join Effort for Hostage Remains in Gaza Egyptian machinery enters into the Gaza Strip Teams from Egypt and the ICRC have been authorized to locate the remains of hostages who perished taken during the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have verified. The Israeli government announced that the crews have been allowed to search beyond the so-called "yellow line" in the region controlled by military personnel in the Gaza territory. The group has transferred fifteen out of 28 deceased Israeli hostages under the first phase of a American-mediated ceasefire deal, which requires it to transfer all remains of captives. The organization stated it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities. Donald Trump has warned the organization to start return the remains "promptly, or the other countries involved in this great peace will take action". An official representative said the Egyptian team has been authorized to work with the Red Cross to find the remains, and would use excavator machines and vehicles for the operation beyond the "yellow line". The "yellow line" indicates the boundary running along the north, southern and east of Gaza that Israel withdrew to, as part of the first stage of the truce agreement. Previously, Israeli authorities has not approved the entry of such teams. Egypt, along with Qatari officials and Turkey, is a principal participant of the mediated by Trump peace initiative for Gaza, which was signed in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in recent weeks. The development will be welcomed by relatives, eager to provide a proper burial. The ICRC has already been heavily involved in the return of hostages. Hamas does not hand over its captives - alive or deceased - directly to the IDF, but rather to the Red Cross, which in turn escorts them through the territory and transfers them to the Israeli military. But the entry of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza Strip is new. After more than two years of heavy shelling by Israeli forces, the UN calculates that as much as 84% of the territory has been reduced to rubble. Hamas claims it is making every effort to recover hostage bodies, but it encounters challenges finding them under rubble of structures destroyed by the IDF in Gaza. It is now coordinating with the Egyptian authorities. On Sunday, an official representative said that the organization knew where the bodies were. "If Hamas made more of an effort, they would be able to retrieve the bodies of our captives," the spokesperson commented. The former president posted on his Truth Social platform on the weekend that measures would be implemented if the remains of the deceased hostages were not handed back quickly. "Some of the remains are difficult to access, but the rest they can return at present and, for some reason, they are not. Perhaps it has to do with their disarming," he remarked. Trump added: "We will observe what they do over the next 48 hours. I am watching this very closely." Gaza minors losing their lives as they wait for Israeli authorities to permit relocations The US Secretary of State says lots of countries prepared to join the region's peacekeeping unit New images show demarcation zone further into Gaza than expected On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country would determine which international troops it would permit as part of a planned international force in Gaza to help maintain the ceasefire under the former president's initiative. "We are in control of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding international forces that Israel will decide which forces are unacceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will proceed," he declared talking at the start of a cabinet meeting. On the end of the week, the American diplomat said "a lot of nations" had volunteered to be part of the force - but added Israel would have to be comfortable with those taking part. This appeared to be a reference to the Turkish government, amid reports Israel had rejected the nation's participation. It remained unclear, however, how such a force could be stationed without an understanding with the organization. The Israeli military launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen took the lives of about twelve hundred individuals and took 251 additional persons as hostages. At least 68,519 have been killed in military actions in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.