The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will stay closed “until further notice,” Israel said Saturday, after the Palestinian embassy in Egypt said the territory’s sole gateway to the surface world would reopen Monday for people returning to Gaza.
The statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said reopening Rafah would rely on how Hamas fulfills its ceasefire role of returning the stays of all 28 dead hostages. Israel’s foreign ministry earlier said the crossing would likely reopen Sunday.
Hamas has handed over the stays of 10 hostages. In a press release, it asserted that its armed wing would hand over the stays of two more Saturday night, without identifying them.
The handover of stays is amongst key points, together with aid deliveries into Gaza and the devastated territory’s future, within the ceasefire process meant to finish two years of conflict.The Rafah crossing is the just one not controlled by Israel before the conflict. It has been closed since May 2024, when Israel took control of the Gaza side. A completely reopened crossing would make it easier for Gazans to hunt medical treatment, travel or visit family in Egypt, home to tens of 1000’s of Palestinians.
Anxiety on either side over stays
Israel has been returning the bodies of Palestinians with no names, only numbers. Gaza’s Health Ministry posts photos of them online, hoping families will come forward.
”Identical to they took their captives, we wish our captives. Bring me my son, bring all our youngsters back,” said a tearful Iman Sakani, whose son went missing throughout the conflict. She was amongst dozens of anxious families waiting at Nasser hospital.
One woman knelt, crying over a body after identifying it.
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As a part of the ceasefire agreement, Israel on Saturday returned 15 bodies of Palestinians to Gaza, bringing the full it has returned to 135.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s ruins were being scoured for the dead. Newly recovered bodies brought the Palestinian toll above 68,000, in line with Gaza’s Health Ministry. 1000’s of persons are still missing, in line with the Red Cross.
The ministry, a part of the Hamas-run government, doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. However the ministry maintains detailed casualty records which might be seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people within the attack on southern Israel that sparked probably the most recent conflict on Oct. 7, 2023.
A push for hostages’ stays
Israel said the stays of a tenth hostage that Hamas handed over Friday were identified as Eliyahu Margalit. The 76-year-old was abducted from kibbutz Nir Oz throughout the Oct. 7 attack. His stays were found after bulldozers plowed up pits within the southern city of Khan Younis.
U.S. President Donald Trump has warned that he would greenlight a resumption of the conflict by Israel, if Hamas doesn’t return the stays of all dead hostages.
Hamas has said it’s committed to the ceasefire deal, but that the retrieval of stays is hampered by the devastation and the presence of unexploded ordnance. The group has told mediators that some stays are in areas controlled by Israeli troops.
The hostage forum that supports the families of those abducted said it should proceed holding weekly rallies until all are returned.“We’ll bring back all of the deceased hostages!” Einav Zangauker, the mother of Matan Zangauker, who was among the many 20 living hostages returned last week, told the rally in Tel Aviv.
Aid stays limited
Hamas has urged mediators to extend the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza for its 2 million people. There are continued closures of crossings and Israeli restrictions on aid groups.
“Vast parts of town are only a wasteland,” U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said Saturday while visiting Gaza City.
U.N. data on Friday showed 339 trucks have been offloaded for distribution in Gaza because the ceasefire began. Under the agreement, about 600 aid trucks per day needs to be allowed to enter.
COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing aid in Gaza, reported 950 trucks — including business trucks and bilateral deliveries — crossing on Thursday and 716 on Wednesday, the U.N. said.
Throughout the conflict, Israel restricted aid to Gaza, sometimes halting it. International food security experts declared famine in Gaza City, and the U.N. says it has verified greater than 400 individuals who died of malnutrition-related causes, including over 100 children.Israel has said it let in enough food and accused Hamas of stealing much of it, which the U.N. and other aid agencies deny.
Hamas accuses Israel of violations
Hamas again accused Israel of constant attacks and violating the ceasefire, asserting that 38 Palestinians had been killed because it began. There was no immediate response from Israel, which still maintains control of about half of Gaza.
On Friday, Gaza’s Civil Defense, first responders operating under the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, said nine people were killed, including women and youngsters, when their vehicle was hit by Israeli fire in Gaza City. The Civil Defense said the automobile crossed into an Israeli-controlled area in eastern Gaza.
Israel’s army said it saw a “suspicious vehicle” crossing the so-called yellow line and approaching troops. It said it fired warning shots, however the vehicle continued to approach in a way that posed an “imminent threat.” The military said it acted in accordance with the ceasefire.
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