Israel limits aid and keeps Rafah crossing closed in dispute over hostage remains | Gaza
The fragile ceasefire in Gaza was put to its first test on Tuesday; Israel said aid flows to the devastated Palestinian territories would be cut in half and the critical Rafah border crossing with Egypt would not be opened as planned, accusing Hamas of violating the US-brokered agreement by keeping the bodies of Israeli hostages.
On Monday, Israelis celebrated the return of the last 20 hostages living in Gaza and Palestinians rejoiced when Israel released nearly 2,000 prisoners and detainees as part of the first phase of the ceasefire.
Hamas also returned the remains of four dead hostages, but had previously warned that recovering the remains of 24 other hostages found in Gaza could take longer because not all grave sites could be identified.
But Israeli military officials believe Hamas knew where most of the hostages’ remains would be found and deliberately delayed their transfer. Haaretz newspaper reported.
Donald Trump has called on Hamas to release the remaining bodies, saying it is necessary to make the next phase of the Gaza plan possible.
“A huge burden has been lifted BUT THE WORK WAS NOT DONE. THE DEAD WERE NOT RETURNED AS PROMISED!” Trump shared on social media. “Phase Two starts NOW!!!”
Initial tensions in the ceasefire were widely expected as Hamas and Israel sought to gain advantage during the implementation of the ill-defined 20-point plan proposed by Trump.
But the move to restrict aid and delay the opening of Rafah, a key crossing point that will allow supplies to enter Gaza from outside Israel, will still come as a shock. The crossing was due to open on Wednesday under a 20-point agreement agreed last week that calls for an increase in aid at levels last seen during a brief ceasefire in March.
The ceasefire plan also called for the return of “all hostages, living and deceased” within 72 hours of the deal’s adoption, but provided a mechanism if this did not happen, saying Hamas should share information about the remaining deceased hostages and “make maximum efforts to ensure that these commitments are fulfilled as quickly as possible.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) acknowledged on Tuesday that delays could be expected, saying returning the bodies of all hostages was a “major challenge” given the difficulty of finding bodies among the rubble in the area.
“The search for human remains is clearly [an] “It’s a bigger challenge than the release of living people,” ICRC official Christian Cardon said at a news conference in Geneva.
Ela Haimi, who killed her 41-year-old husband Tal Haimi during Hamas’ attack on Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on October 7, supported restricting humanitarian aid to Gaza. He said: “I had such information that [Hamas] They’re not doing everything they can. The Israeli army gave them information, but they did not use it… We can control how many trucks enter the strip. “There are things we can do and we should use them.”
He added that he did not believe the Israeli government should or would move to “phase two” of the peace plan until all dead hostages were returned.
Following Monday’s celebrations, tensions rose in Gaza due to sporadic violence.
It was reported that Israeli forces, which withdrew from Gaza City and some parts of Gaza on Saturday, opened fire on civilians approaching their positions in two separate incidents, killing six people. Under the ceasefire agreement, Israeli forces have withdrawn to the so-called “yellow line” but still hold just over half of Gaza.
Gaza Civil Defense Organization Spokesperson Mahmud Bassal said that five people who inspected their homes in the Shucaiye district of Gaza City were killed by drones, and one person died in a drone attack in the southeast of Khan Younis city.
The Israeli army said that in the first incident, it opened fire on “suspects” who were identified as a threat after approaching their positions, and in the second incident, after approaching the former Hamas weapons depot, its forces opened fire after being warned repeatedly.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassim said the attacks broke ceasefire agreements and that Israel was trying to “evade its commitments to mediators.”
As Hamas continues its efforts to reassert its authority in the region by sending its armed fighters into the streets and targeting those who oppose its rule or are pro-Israeli, there have been other reports of shootings, beatings, and gunfights across large parts of Gaza.
In a video distributed late Monday, Hamas fighters dragged seven men with their hands tied behind their backs into a Gaza City square, forced them to their knees and shot them in the back as dozens of onlookers watched from nearby store fronts.
Trump gave Hamas the go-ahead to regain control of Gaza, at least temporarily. Israeli officials, who say the final solution must permanently disarm Hamas, have so far not commented publicly on the return of the group’s fighters to the streets.
The delay in opening Rafah dismayed humanitarian officials in Gaza, who said only limited supplies had arrived since the ceasefire agreement was agreed.
UN said Tents, frozen meat, fresh fruit, flour and medicine for displaced families crossed into Gaza on Saturday, but no trucks from Israel entered due to the passage of hostages released in Gaza on Monday. Since Tuesday is a Jewish religious holiday, the crossings were closed.
“We have not seen any significant change on the ground. Especially in the north, we need services, tents, water, heavy equipment… Basically everything. We cannot say there is a flood of aid,” said Amjad al-Shawa, Director of the Palestinian NGO Network.
A hospital in Gaza on Tuesday said it had received the bodies of 45 Palestinians returned by Israel as part of Trump’s plan to end the two-year conflict triggered by a Hamas surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians. The ensuing Israeli offensive killed 67,000 people and injured more than 170,000.
The agreement signed last week also stated that Israel would provide information about the remains of Palestinians who died in Israeli custody.
Attention now focuses on efforts to establish a transitional authority and multinational stabilization force in Gaza, as outlined in the agreement. Both will ultimately be overseen by a “peace board” chaired by Trump and possibly led by former British prime minister Tony Blair.
Egyptian foreign minister Badr Abdelatty said 15 Palestinian technocrats were chosen to run Gaza, approved by all Palestinian groups, including Hamas, and reviewed by Israel.
“We need to assign them to maintain the daily life of the people in Gaza, and the peace council should support and supervise the inflow of finance and money for the reconstruction of Gaza,” he said.
As tens of thousands of people return to their ruined homes, the extent of the destruction in Gaza becomes clear.
The UN, the EU and the World Bank jointly estimate that rebuilding Gaza will cost $70 billion, Jaco Cilliers, the UN Development Programme’s special representative for a program to aid the Palestinians, said on Tuesday.
“The estimated amount of damage and debris in the whole of Gaza is around 55 million tons… equivalent to the 13 pyramids in Giza,” he said.
Cilliers said $20 billion will be needed over the next three years, while the rest will be needed over a longer period, possibly decades.
