Teams from Egypt 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 teams have been allowed to search past the so-called "yellow line" in the region under the control of Israeli forces in Gaza.
Hamas has transferred 15 out of 28 hostages who lost their lives under the first phase of a US-brokered truce agreement, which requires it to transfer all remains of captives. The group stated it is now working together with Egyptian authorities.
The former US president has cautions the organization to start return the remains "quickly, or the additional nations involved in this great peace will intervene".
An Israeli spokesperson indicated the crew from Egypt has been permitted to collaborate with the ICRC to find the remains, and would use excavator machines and trucks for the search past the "yellow line".
The "demarcation line" marks the boundary running along the northern, south and eastern of the Gaza territory that Israel pulled back to, as part of the initial phase of the truce agreement.
Previously, Israeli authorities has not approved the entry of such teams.
Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkish authorities, is a principal participant of the mediated by Trump peace initiative for Gaza, which was signed in the Egyptian resort of the resort town in recent weeks.
The news will be greeted positively by relatives, desperate to give them a dignified funeral.
The ICRC has already been deeply engaged in the return of hostages.
Hamas does not hand over its detainees - living or deceased - straight to the IDF, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn accompanies them through Gaza and hands them on to the IDF.
But the entry of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza territory is a recent development.
After more than two years of heavy shelling by Israeli forces, the UN estimates that as much as 84% of the area has been reduced to rubble.
The group claims it is making every effort to recover hostage bodies, but it faces difficulty locating them under rubble of buildings bombed out by the IDF in the region.
It is now working in coordination with the officials in Egypt.
On the weekend, an Israeli government spokesperson said that the organization knew where the remains were.
"If Hamas made more of an effort, they would be able to recover the remains of our captives," the representative commented.
The former president shared on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that measures would be implemented if the bodies of the deceased hostages were not handed back quickly.
"A portion of the bodies are hard to reach, but the rest they can hand over now and, for some reason, they are not. Maybe it has do with their disarming," he said.
He added: "Let's see what they accomplish over the next 48 hours. I am watching this with great attention."
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country would determine which international troops it would allow as part of a planned 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 determine which forces are not acceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will proceed," he said talking at the start of a government session.
On the end of the week, the American diplomat said "numerous countries" had volunteered to be part of the contingent - but added Israel would have to be satisfied with those taking part.
This appeared to be a reference to the Turkish government, amid reports Israeli officials had rejected the nation's involvement.
It remained unclear, however, how this contingent could be deployed without an agreement with the organization.
Israel launched a armed operation in Gaza in following the incidents of October 7th, in which militants associated with the group killed about 1,200 individuals and took 251 additional persons as hostages.
At least 68,519 have been lost their lives in military actions in the region since then, according to the territory's health authorities under the group's control.
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