Israel to reopen Gaza crossing after search for hostage bodies ends

Israel said it would agree to reopen the Gaza Strip’s main crossing with Egypt only after an operation to recover the body of the last Israeli hostage in the area was completed.

The Rafah crossing has been mostly closed since the Palestinian side was occupied by Israeli forces in May 2024. It was supposed to reopen during the first phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that began in October.

However, the Israeli government put forward conditions for this, requiring Hamas to make every effort to return the body of the last hostage, police officer Sergeant Ran Gweli.

On Sunday, the Israeli military said it had begun a renewed search for his body in northern Gaza.

Although Israel appeared to provide a timetable for reopening the crossing in its latest announcement, it was unclear how long the search for Gweli would take.

Israeli media quoted military officials as saying that the operation was carried out at a cemetery in Gaza City and could last several days.

On Thursday, the leader of Gaza’s new technocratic Palestinian government said the Rafah crossing would be open “in both directions” this week.

Meanwhile, the United States and other mediators continue to pressure both sides to take the next steps toward President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced on Sunday evening that Israel “agreed to a limited reopening of the Rafah crossing to pedestrian traffic only, subject to Israel’s comprehensive inspection mechanism.”

The Israeli military is “currently conducting a concentrated operation to exhaust all intelligence gathered during the search and return of Ran Gweli’s remains,” a statement said.

“Upon completion of this operation, Israel will open the Rafah crossing in accordance with the agreement with the United States,” the statement added.

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper cited sources as saying the crossing would have a “comprehensive Israeli monitoring mechanism” that would include supervision of entry and exit lists.

The source added that Israel also plans to set up an additional checkpoint for all people entering Gaza in the area around the Yellow Line, which demarcates the territory still controlled by Israeli forces under the ceasefire.

Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli military said its forces had “begun a targeted operation in the Yellow Line area in the northern Gaza Strip” to retrieve Gweli’s body.

Israeli military officials told local media that the operation was based on long-standing intelligence that suggested Gweli’s remains may be buried in the Shejaya and Daraj Tufa areas of Gaza City, east of the Yellow Line.

They added that there were specialist units on site, including rabbis, search teams and dental experts equipped with mobile X-ray machines.

Hamas’s military wing, the Izzedin al-Qassam Brigades, said on Sunday it had “provided the mediators all the details and information we have about the location of Gweli’s body”.

The statement added that Israeli forces were “searching one of the locations.”

Meanwhile, Gweli’s family reiterated their strong opposition to the reopening of the Rafah crossing before his body can be returned to Israel for burial. “First and foremost, Lan must be brought home,” they said.

The 24-year-old was killed at Kibbutz Arumin on October 7, 2023, during a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, and his body was taken back to Gaza as a hostage.

In early December, the Israeli government said the Rafah crossing would be opened “in the coming days” to allow Palestinians to leave Gaza.

However, a dispute erupted with Egypt, which said the crossing would only open if two-way traffic was allowed, allowing the return of tens of thousands of Palestinians who fled Gaza during the war.

A delegation led by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner met with the Israeli prime minister on Saturday to focus on the implementation of the second phase of the Gaza peace plan. Witkov said the meeting was “constructive and positive.”

In the first phase, Hamas and Israel agreed to a ceasefire, the exchange of all living and dead Israeli hostages in Gaza for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, a partial Israeli troop withdrawal, and massive shipments of humanitarian aid.

The second phase should be the takeover of public services by a new technocratic Palestinian government in Gaza, as well as the reconstruction and full demilitarization of the territory, including the disarmament of Hamas and other groups.

The war was sparked by an attack on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people died and 251 others were taken hostage to Gaza.

In response, Israel launched a military operation in Gaza, which killed more than 71,650 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory.