Shortly after the Palestinian embassy in Egypt announced that the Rafah crossing, the main gateway for Gazans to leave and enter the enclave, would reopen
on Monday for entry into Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the opening remains closed. The reopening of the Rafah crossing will depend on Hamas handing over the bodies of deceased hostages. Notably, Rafah has largely been shut since May 2024. Israel on Saturday announced that Gaza's sole crossing with the outside world, Rafah, would remain closed "until further notice". On Thursday, it had said that the crossing would reopen on Sunday. Earlier on Saturday, Hamas handed over "two coffins of deceased hostages" from Gaza. No names were released by the Israeli government. The bodies were in Israel and were being taken to the country’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine. Hamas has now handed over the remains of 12 of the 28 dead hostages in Gaza, a key step in the week-old ceasefire process meant to end two years of war. Read More - 'Gaza War Not Over Yet': Netanyahu Says 'Phase B' Critical To Disarm Hamas Israel has accused Hamas of being too slow in handing over the bodies of the deceased hostages. However, Hamas said that locating bodies in the rubble in Gaza will take more time. In a statement released late Saturday, Hamas said that the closure of the Rafah crossing would prevent the entry of equipment needed to search for and locate more hostage bodies under the rubble, and would thus delay the recovery and handover of the remains. Israel and Hamas had recently agreed for a ceasefire that included US President Donald Trump's 20-point plan to end the war. As part of the deal, Hamas released all 20 living Israeli hostages it had been holding for two years, in return for almost 2,000 Palestinian detainees and convicted prisoners jailed in Israel.
Amid this, the US State Department, on Saturday, said that it has received "credible reports indicating an imminent ceasefire violation by Hamas against the people of Gaza."
The State Department said the planned attack against Palestinian civilians would be a "direct and grave violation of the ceasefire agreement." "Should Hamas proceed with this attack, measures will be taken to protect the people of Gaza and preserve the integrity of the ceasefire," the department said in a statement, without providing further details.
