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Teams from Egyptian authorities and the ICRC have been granted permission to locate the bodies of hostages who perished captured during the 7 October attacks, officials in Israel have verified.

The Israeli government stated that the teams have been permitted to search beyond the so-called "demarcation line" in the region under the control of military personnel in Gaza.

Hamas has transferred fifteen out of twenty-eight deceased Israeli hostages under the first phase of a American-mediated ceasefire deal, which mandates it to transfer all hostage bodies. The organization said it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities.

Donald Trump has cautions Hamas to start return the bodies "quickly, or the additional nations participating in this significant peace will take action".

An Israeli spokesperson indicated the crew from Egypt has been permitted to work with the Red Cross to locate the bodies, and would use excavator machines and vehicles for the operation beyond the "yellow line".

The "yellow line" marks the border running along the north, south and eastern of the Gaza territory that Israel pulled back to, as part of the initial phase of the truce agreement.

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

Egypt, along with Qatari officials and Turkey, is a key signatory of the Trump-brokered peace initiative for Gaza, which was signed in the coastal city of the resort town earlier this month.

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

The ICRC has already been heavily involved in the return of hostages.

Hamas does not hand over its captives - living or deceased - straight to the Israel Defense Forces, but instead to the ICRC, which in turn accompanies them through Gaza and transfers them to the Israeli military.

But the entry of Egyptian excavation teams 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 eighty-four percent of the territory has been reduced to rubble.

The group claims it is making every effort to recover remains of captives, but it faces difficulty finding them under rubble of structures 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 Hamas was aware of where the bodies were.

"If the group made more of an effort, they would be able to recover the remains of our hostages," the representative said.

The former president shared on his social media account on the weekend that action would be implemented if the bodies of the hostages who died were not returned quickly.

"Some of the remains are difficult to access, but the rest they can hand over at present and, for unknown reasons, they are not. Maybe it has to do with their disarming," he said.

Trump added: "We will observe what they do over the coming two days. I am monitoring the situation very closely."

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On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the country would decide which foreign forces it would allow as part of a proposed multinational contingent in Gaza to help secure the ceasefire under Trump's plan.

"We are in command of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding foreign troops that Israel will determine which forces are unacceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate," he declared talking at the beginning of a cabinet meeting.

On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated "a lot of nations" had offered to be involved in the contingent - but added Israel would have to be comfortable with those taking part.

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

It remained unclear, however, how this contingent could be stationed without an understanding with Hamas.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 individuals and captured two hundred fifty-one additional persons as hostages.

At least 68,519 have been lost their lives in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the area's Hamas-run health ministry.