Israel said Monday it had recovered the stays of the last hostage in Gaza, closing a painful chapter for the country and clearing the way in which for the following and more difficult phase of its ceasefire with Hamas.
The most certainly next step could be the reopening of Gaza’s border with Egypt, enabling Palestinians to maneuver in each directions and for more aid to enter the territory devastated by two years of war. The ceasefire also calls for the deployment of a global security force, disarming Hamas, an extra pullback by Israeli soldiers and the reconstruction of Gaza.
The announcement that the stays of police officer Ran Gvili had been found and identified got here a day after Israel’s government said the military was conducting a “large-scale operation” in a cemetery in northern Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it “an incredible achievement” for Israel and its soldiers. He said Gvili, who was killed throughout the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war, was among the many first to be taken into Gaza.
“There are not any more hostages in Gaza,” Netanyahu said Monday while addressing the Israeli parliament. “Now we have accomplished this mission, as I promised, and we are going to complete the opposite missions we’ve got set.”
The return of all remaining hostages, living or dead, has been a key a part of the Gaza ceasefire’s first phase. Gvili’s family had urged Israel’s government to not enter the second phase until his stays were recovered and returned.
Hamas said it now has committed to all terms of the ceasefire’s first phase.
The following phase will confront thornier issues, including transitioning to a brand new governance structure in Gaza and disarming Hamas, which has ruled the territory for nearly 20 years.
“What’s the following phase? The following phase is disarming Hamas and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip. The following phase will not be reconstruction,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu’s office said Sunday that when the seek for Gvili was finished, Israel would open the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which Palestinians see as their lifeline to the world. It has been largely shut since May 2024, apart from a brief period in early 2025.
Palestinians react to recovery of last hostage’s stays
Palestinians in Gaza were optimistic that the recovery of the stays will result in the opening of Rafah crossing and permit travel to and from Gaza together with the evacuation of individuals needing medical care.
“We hope this can close off Israel’s pretexts and open the crossing,” said Abdel-Rahman Radwan, a Gaza City resident whose mother is a cancer patient and requires treatment outside Gaza.
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Ahmed Ruqab, a father who lives along with his family of six in a tent within the Nuseirat refugee camp, called for mediators and the U.S. to pressure Israel to permit more aid and caravans into Gaza.
“We want to show this page and restart,” he said over the phone.
Israel and Hamas had been under pressure from ceasefire mediators including Washington to maneuver into the second phase of the U.S.-brokered truce, which took effect on Oct. 10.
Israel had repeatedly accused Hamas of dragging its feet within the recovery of the ultimate hostage. Hamas said it had provided all the data it had about Gvili’s stays, and accused Israel of obstructing efforts to go looking for them in areas of Gaza under Israeli military control.
Gvili’s stays were found right along the “yellow line” dividing Gaza just on the Israeli side, in keeping with a military official, speaking anonymously under army protocol.
The October 2023 attack on Israel that launched the war killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Gvili, a 24-year-old police officer known affectionately as “Rani,” was killed while fighting Hamas militants.
Before Gvili’s stays were recovered, 20 living hostages and the stays of 27 others had been returned to Israel because the ceasefire, most recently in early December. Israel in exchange has released the bodies of a whole lot Palestinians to Gaza.
Palestinians killed in Gaza
Israeli forces on Monday fatally shot a person in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighborhood, in keeping with Shifa Hospital, which received the body. The person was near an area where the military has launched the search operation for Gvili, the hospital said.
One other man was killed within the eastern side of Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, in keeping with Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital, which received his body. The circumstances of his death weren’t immediately clear.
Palestinians in Gaza who spoke to The Associated Press in recent weeks questioned whether moving into phase two of the ceasefire will improve conditions on the bottom, pointing to ongoing bloodshed and challenges securing basic necessities.
Israel’s offensive has killed greater than 71,400 Palestinians since 2023, in keeping with Gaza’s Health Ministry — with greater than 480 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire because the latest ceasefire began. The ministry, which is a component of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records which are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.
Israel’s top court considers petition to open Gaza for international journalists
The Foreign Press Association on Monday asked Israel’s Supreme Court to permit journalists to enter Gaza freely and independently.
The FPA, which represents dozens of world news organizations, has been fighting for greater than two years for independent media access to Gaza. Israel has barred reporters from entering Gaza independently because the 2023 attacks by Hamas, which triggered the war, saying entry could put each journalists and soldiers in danger.
The military has offered journalists transient, occasional visits under strict military supervision.
FPA lawyers told the three judge panel that the restrictions will not be justified and that with aid staff moving out and in of Gaza, journalists ought to be allowed in as well. Additionally they said the tightly controlled embeds with the military are not any substitute for independent access. The judges are expected to rule in the approaching days.
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