Israel says Rafah crossing to open after search for last captive body ends | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Netanyahu’s office says the Gaza border crossing with Egypt will reopen only after search for soldier Ran Gvili’s remains is over.

Israel ‍will reopen Gaza’s Rafah crossing with ⁠Egypt ​for the ‍passage of people only ‍after an operation ⁠to locate the body of the ​last ‌remaining Israeli captive in the war-ravaged enclave is ‌completed, ‌Prime Minister ⁠Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says.

In a statement late on Sunday, Netanyahu’s office said the “opening of the crossing is conditioned on the return of all living [captives] and the execution of 100 percent effort on the part of Hamas to locate and return all deceased [captives]”.

Earlier on Sunday, Hamas said it has handed over the location of the remains of Israeli soldier Ran Gvili, the last captive in Gaza, as the second stage of the ceasefire began in Gaza.

In a statement, a spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said the group handed over the location of Gvili’s remains with “absolute transparency”, and that it “fulfilled all our obligations in accordance with the ceasefire agreement”.

“We are fully committed to closing this file permanently and have no interest in procrastination. This stance is rooted in our concern for the interests of our people. Working under complex and nearly impossible conditions, we have successfully recovered and handed over the remains of the enemy’s prisoners with the full knowledge of the mediators,” Abu Obeida said.

“We call upon these mediators to uphold their responsibilities and compel the [Israeli] occupation to implement what has been agreed upon.”

Netanyahu’s office said a largescale operation was under way at a cemetery in northern Gaza to find the remains. “This effort will continue for as long as necessary,” the office added.

The Israeli military also said that search operations were under way to retrieve Gvili’s body from the so-called “yellow line” area in Gaza, which splits the area between the location of Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters.

Gvili, a noncommissioned officer in the Israeli police’s elite Yassam unit, was killed in action on October 7, 2023, during the Hamas-led attack in Israel, and his body was taken to Gaza.

But as part of United States President Donald Trump’s peace proposal for Gaza, Hamas was required to return all the captives, living and dead, from the besieged enclave to Israel.

Amid widespread devastation and an Israeli refusal to allow for heavy machinery, the discovery of the last captive has been delayed.

Despite not finding the captive, US special envoy Steve Witkoff announced last week that the ceasefire was now moving to its second stage, which is likely to see the opening of the Rafah border crossing, the reconstruction of the Strip, and the disarmament of Hamas.

Witkoff on Sunday said he and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, had met Netanyahu in Israel on the previous day, mainly to discuss Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israeli attacks have continued across Gaza, with at least three Palestinians killed in two separate incidents, and an Israeli drone wounding four others in Gaza City, the enclave’s Ministry of Health said on Sunday.

Medics said Israeli forces killed at least two people east of the Tuffah neighbourhood in northern Gaza and a 41-year-old man in Khan Younis in the south.

Earlier, medical workers ​said an Israeli drone exploded on the rooftop of a multi-floor building in Gaza City, wounding four ‍civilians in the street nearby.