š Share this article Egyptian authorities along with International Committee of the Red Cross Participate in Effort for Captive Bodies in Gaza Strip International machinery enters into the Gaza Strip Units from Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to locate the bodies of deceased hostages taken during the October 7th incidents, officials in Israel have verified. The Israeli government stated that the crews have been allowed to search past the referred to as "yellow line" in the region controlled by Israeli forces in Gaza. The group has transferred fifteen out of 28 deceased Israeli hostages under the initial stage of a American-mediated truce agreement, which requires it to transfer all remains of captives. The group stated it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities. The former US president has warned the organization to start return the remains "quickly, or the other countries involved in this great peace will intervene". An Israeli spokesperson indicated the Egyptian team has been authorized to work with the Red Cross to locate the remains, and would use digging equipment and vehicles for the operation beyond the "demarcation line". The "yellow line" indicates the border running along the northern, south and east of Gaza that Israeli forces pulled back to, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal. Previously, Israel has not authorized the entry of these crews. Egypt, along with Qatari officials and Turkey, is a principal participant of the Trump-brokered peace initiative for Gaza, which was ratified in the coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh in recent weeks. The news will be welcomed by family members, eager to give them a proper burial. The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been heavily involved in the return of captives. The organization does not hand over its captives - alive or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn escorts them through the territory and hands them on to the Israeli military. 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 UN calculates that as much as eighty-four percent of the territory has been reduced to rubble. The group claims it is doing its best to recover hostage bodies, but it faces difficulty locating them under rubble of structures bombed out by the Israeli military in Gaza. It is now coordinating with the officials in Egypt. On the weekend, an official representative stated that the organization knew where the remains were. "If Hamas made more of an effort, they would be able to retrieve the bodies of our captives," the representative said. Trump posted on his social media account on the weekend that action would be taken if the bodies of the deceased hostages were not returned quickly. "Some of the remains are hard to reach, but the rest they can return now and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Maybe it has do with their disarming," he remarked. He continued: "Let's see what they do over the next 48 hours. I am monitoring the situation with great attention." Palestinian children losing their lives as they wait for Israel to enable relocations Rubio states many countries prepared to join Gaza peacekeeping unit Recent photographs show Israeli control line deeper into Gaza than anticipated On Sunday, the Israeli leader announced Israel would decide which foreign forces it would permit as part of a proposed multinational contingent in Gaza to help secure 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 we will decide which forces are not acceptable to us, and this is how we function and will proceed," he said talking at the start of a government session. On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated "a lot of countries" had offered to be involved in the contingent - but added Israel would have to be comfortable with participants. This seemed like a reference to the Turkish government, amid reports Israeli officials had rejected the nation's participation. It remained unclear, however, how this contingent could be stationed without an agreement with Hamas. Israel initiated a military campaign in Gaza in following the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen took the lives of about twelve hundred individuals and took two hundred fifty-one others as hostages. No fewer than sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza from that time, according to the area's Hamas-run health ministry.