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Units from Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to search for the bodies of deceased hostages taken during the 7 October attacks, Israeli authorities have verified.

The Israeli government announced that the teams have been allowed to search past the referred to as "demarcation line" in the region under the control of Israeli forces in Gaza.

The group has handed over 15 out of twenty-eight deceased Israeli hostages under the first phase of a American-mediated ceasefire deal, which mandates it to hand over all hostage bodies. The group stated it is now coordinating with officials in Egypt.

Donald Trump has warned Hamas to begin returning the bodies "promptly, or the additional nations involved in this great peace will take action".

An Israeli spokesperson said the Egyptian team has been authorized to work with the ICRC to locate the remains, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the operation past the "demarcation line".

The "demarcation line" marks the border running along the north, south and eastern of the Gaza territory that Israeli forces withdrew to, as part of the initial phase of the ceasefire deal.

Previously, Israel has not authorized the access of such teams.

The Egyptian government, along with Qatar and Turkish authorities, is a principal participant of the mediated by Trump Gaza peace plan, which was signed in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in recent weeks.

The development will be welcomed by family members, desperate to provide a dignified funeral.

The ICRC has already been deeply engaged in the repatriation of hostages.

Hamas does not hand over its detainees - living or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but rather to the ICRC, which in turn accompanies them through the territory and transfers them to the IDF.

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

After more than two years of heavy shelling 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 making every effort to retrieve hostage bodies, but it encounters challenges locating them under rubble of structures bombed out by the Israeli military in the region.

It is now working in coordination with the Egyptian authorities.

On Sunday, an Israeli government spokesperson 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 said.

Trump posted on his social media account on Saturday that action would be taken if the bodies of the hostages who died were not returned quickly.

"Some of the remains are hard to reach, but the rest they can return at present and, for some reason, they are not. Maybe it has to do with their demilitarization," he remarked.

Trump added: "Let's see what they accomplish over the next 48 hours. I am monitoring the situation with great attention."

• Palestinian children losing their lives as they await Israel to permit relocations
• The US Secretary of State states lots of nations prepared to participate in the region's security force
• New images reveal demarcation zone deeper into Gaza than expected

On the weekend, the Israeli leader announced Israel would decide which foreign forces it would allow as part of a proposed international force in the region to help secure the truce under Trump's plan.

"We are in control of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding international forces that Israel will determine which forces are unacceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will proceed," he said speaking at the start of a government session.

On the end of the week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated "numerous countries" had volunteered to be part of the force - but noted Israel would have to be comfortable with participants.

This seemed like a allusion to Turkey, amid reports Israeli officials had vetoed the country's involvement.

It remained unclear, however, how such a force could be stationed without an understanding with the organization.

Israel launched a military campaign in the territory in following the incidents of October 7th, in which militants associated with the group killed about twelve hundred individuals and took two hundred fifty-one additional persons as captives.

At least sixty-eight thousand five hundred nineteen have been lost their lives in military actions in the region since then, according to the area's health authorities under the group's control.