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Teams from Egyptian authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been authorized to locate the remains of hostages who perished taken during the October 7th incidents, officials in Israel have verified.

The Israeli government stated that the crews have been allowed to operate beyond the so-called "demarcation line" in the region under the control of military personnel in the Gaza territory.

The group has transferred 15 out of 28 hostages who lost their lives under the first phase of a US-brokered ceasefire deal, which requires it to hand over all remains of captives. The organization said it is now coordinating with Egyptian authorities.

Donald Trump has warned Hamas to start return the bodies "quickly, or the additional nations involved in this significant peace will intervene".

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 beyond the "demarcation line".

The "demarcation line" marks the boundary running along the northern, south and eastern of the Gaza territory that Israeli forces pulled back to, as part of the first stage of the ceasefire deal.

Until now, Israel has not authorized the entry of these crews.

The Egyptian government, along with Qatari officials and Turkey, is a principal participant of the Trump-brokered peace initiative for Gaza, which was signed in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month.

The development will be welcomed by family members, eager to give them a proper burial.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has already been deeply engaged in the return of hostages.

Hamas does not transfer its detainees - living or deceased - directly to the Israel Defense Forces, but rather to the Red Cross, which in turn escorts them through the territory and transfers them to the IDF.

But the entry of digging crews from Egypt inside the Gaza Strip is a recent development.

After more than 24 months of heavy shelling by Israel, the UN calculates that as much as 84% of the territory has been reduced to rubble.

Hamas says it is making every effort to recover remains of captives, but it faces difficulty finding them under rubble of buildings bombed out by the IDF in the region.

It is now coordinating 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 captives," the spokesperson said.

Trump shared on his social media account on the weekend that action would be taken if the remains of the hostages who died were not returned promptly.

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

Trump continued: "We will observe what they accomplish over the next 48 hours. I am monitoring the situation with great attention."

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• Recent photographs reveal demarcation zone further into the territory than anticipated

On the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the country would determine which foreign forces it would allow as part of a proposed international force in Gaza to help secure the ceasefire under the former president's initiative.

"We are in control of our security, and we have also stated explicitly regarding international forces that Israel will determine which units are not acceptable to us, and this is how we function and will proceed," he declared speaking at the start of a government session.

On Friday, the American diplomat indicated "a lot of nations" had volunteered to be part of the force - but noted Israeli authorities would have to be satisfied with those taking part.

This appeared to be a allusion to the Turkish government, amid reports Israeli officials had rejected the nation's participation.

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

Israel initiated a armed operation in the territory in response to the incidents of October 7th, in which militants associated with the group took the lives of about 1,200 people and took 251 others as hostages.

No fewer than 68,519 have been killed in Israeli attacks in the region from that time, according to the area's health authorities under the group's control.