Rafah border crossing set to be reopened, Israel says
Israel says it is preparing to reopen the Gaza Strip’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt to allow Palestinians to enter and exit, but has not set a date because it shares blame with Hamas for violations of the US-brokered ceasefire.
The dispute over the return of the bodies of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip retains the potential to upset the ceasefire as well as the plan’s other yet unresolved major plans, including the disarmament of militants and the future governance of the region.
Government spokesman Shosh Bedrosyan told reporters on Thursday that Israel remains committed to the agreement and continues to fulfill its obligations, and has demanded from Hamas the return of the bodies of 19 dead hostages that it did not hand over.
The Islamist group handed over 10 bodies, but Israel said one of them did not belong to a hostage.
The militant group said it had handed over all the bodies it could recover.
Hamas’s armed wing has said that handing over more bodies to the Gaza Strip, which has been reduced to vast piles of rubble by the war, would require the admission of heavy machinery and excavation equipment into Israel’s blockaded Palestinian territory.
A senior Hamas official on Thursday accused Israel of violating the ceasefire by killing at least 24 people in armed attacks since Friday and said a list of such violations had been handed over to mediators.
“The occupying state is working day and night to undermine the agreement with its violations on the ground,” he said.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to Hamas’ accusations.
It was previously said that some Palestinians ignored Israeli warnings not to approach the ceasefire positions and that soldiers “opened fire to eliminate the threat”.
Israel said the next phase of the 20-point peace plan drawn up by the administration of US President Donald Trump calls for Hamas to lay down its weapons and cede power, which it has so far refused to do.
Instead, Hamas launched a security crackdown in urban areas vacated by Israeli forces, demonstrating its power through public executions and clashes with local armed groups.
The remaining 20 hostages were released on Monday in exchange for thousands of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
Later on Thursday, Gaza’s health ministry said Israel had released the bodies of 30 Palestinians killed during the conflict, bringing the total number of bodies it had received since Monday to 120.
Long-term elements of Trump’s plan have not yet been clarified, including the creation of an international “stabilization force” for the small, densely populated region and steps to create a Palestinian state, which Israel rejects.
The foreign-backed Palestinian Authority (PA) will work with international institutions and partners to resolve the Gaza Strip’s security, logistics, financial and governance problems, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa said on Thursday.
He told reporters that an upcoming conference in Egypt on rebuilding the area should clarify how donor funds are organised, who will receive them and how they will be distributed.
Hamas ousted the Palestinian Authority from the Gaza Strip in a brief civil war in 2007.
