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Units from Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been granted permission to search for the remains of hostages who perished captured during the 7 October attacks, officials in Israel have verified.

The Israeli government announced that the crews have been permitted to search past the so-called "demarcation line" in the region controlled by military personnel in the Gaza territory.

The group has handed over 15 out of 28 deceased Israeli hostages under the initial stage of a US-brokered truce agreement, which requires it to hand over all remains of captives. The group stated it is now coordinating with officials in Egypt.

Donald Trump has cautions the organization to begin returning the bodies "quickly, or the additional nations involved in this significant peace will take action".

An official representative indicated the crew from Egypt has been permitted to collaborate with the Red Cross to locate the remains, and would use excavator machines and vehicles for the search past the "demarcation line".

The "demarcation line" marks the boundary running along the northern, southern and east of Gaza that Israeli forces withdrew to, as part of the initial phase of the ceasefire deal.

Until now, Israel has not approved the entry of such teams.

The Egyptian government, 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 greeted positively by family members, desperate to give them a dignified funeral.

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

The organization does not transfer its captives - living or deceased - directly to the IDF, but rather to the Red Cross, which in turn accompanies them through the territory and transfers them to the Israeli military.

But the entry of Egyptian excavation teams 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 destroyed completely.

The group says it is making every effort to retrieve hostage bodies, but it faces difficulty locating them under debris of buildings bombed out by the IDF in Gaza.

It is now coordinating with the officials in Egypt.

On Sunday, an Israeli government spokesperson stated that the organization knew where the bodies were.

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

Trump 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 promptly.

"Some of the bodies are difficult to access, but the rest they can hand over at present and, for some reason, they are not. Maybe it has to do with their disarming," he remarked.

Trump continued: "Let's see what they do over the next 48 hours. I am watching this very closely."

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On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country would determine which foreign forces it would permit as part of a planned multinational contingent in the region to help secure the truce under the former president's initiative.

"We are in command of our safety, and we have also made it clear regarding international forces that we will determine which forces are unacceptable to us, and this is how we function 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 added Israel would have to be satisfied with participants.

This appeared to be a reference to the Turkish government, amid reports Israeli officials had vetoed the country's participation.

It remained unclear, however, how this contingent could be deployed without an understanding with the organization.

Israel initiated a armed operation in Gaza in following the 7 October 2023 attack, in which militants associated with the group killed about 1,200 individuals and took 251 others as captives.

At least 68,519 have been killed in military actions in Gaza since then, according to the area's health authorities under the group's control.