Gaza to Egypt crossing remains shut

Israel pushes for hostage remains

AFP | Jerusalem

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The lifeline Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt remained shut yesterday despite reports that i t could reopen to aid convoys, as Israel insisted Hamas hand over the remains of the last deceased hostages it holds.

Early in the day, Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported that the crossing point would reopen, but humanitarian sources told AFP this had not happened and a government spokeswoman ignored questions on the subject.

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher expressed frustration that the ceasefire, brokered by US President Donald Trump and hailed by world leaders, had yet to facilitate the scale of relief needed in the devastated Palestinian territory.

“As Hamas have agreed, they must make strenuous efforts to return all the bodies of deceased hostages, urgently. I am also gravely concerned by the evidence of violence against civilians in Gaza,” Fletcher said.

“As Israel has agreed, they must allow the massive surge of humanitarian aid -- thousands of trucks a week -- on which so many lives depend, and on which the world has insisted. We need more crossings open.”

Humanitarian risk

Israel and Hamas are expected to continue their exchange of human remains, which also hit an unexpected obstacle on Wednesday.

So far, Hamas has handed back eight bodies, seven of which have been identified. The remains of 20 others remain in Gaza, and there is domestic pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to tie aid to the fate of the bodies.

The eighth -- unidentified -- body was not that of a former hostage, the Israeli military said after overnight tests, leading some Israeli politicians to accuse Hamas of breaking the ceasefire agreement.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has threatened to cut off aid supplies to Gaza if Hamas fails to return the remains of soldiers still held in the territory.

Israel, meanwhile, transferred another 45 Palestinian bodies that had been in its custody to Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, bringing the number handed back to 90, the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry said.