CAIRO (AP) — American officials met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, urging Israel to move into the second phase of the ceasefire that stopped the war in Gaza.
Netanyahu met with President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and Middle East adviser, according to the Prime Minister's Office.
The U.S. is anxious to keep the Trump-brokered deal moving, but Netanyahu is facing pressure from within
Israel not to progress to the second phase until Hamas returns the body of the last hostage it is holding in Gaza. The Rafah border crossing is both a symbolic and logistical step that is the biggest signal of the commencement of second phase, and many outside Israel are eager to see it open.
Ali Shaath, the head of a new, future technocratic government in Gaza that is expected to run the day-to-day affairs, announced on Thursday that the Rafah border crossing will open in both directions this coming week. There was no confirmation from Israel, which said only that it would consider the matter next week. The Gaza side of the crossing, which runs between Gaza and Egypt, is currently under Israeli military control.
The family of Ran Gvili, the hostage whose body is being held in Gaza, urged the pressure to be focused on Hamas. “President Trump himself stated this week in Davos that Hamas knows exactly where our son is being held," the family said on Saturday. “Hamas is deceiving the international community and refusing to return our son, the last remaining hostage, in what constitutes a clear violation of the agreement it signed.”
Egypt’s top diplomat pressed for an immediate opening of the crossing with the director of Trump’s Board of Peace in Gaza, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said Saturday, including the ability of Palestinians to enter and exit Gaza.
Foreign Minister Bader Abdelatty spoke by phone with Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza, the ministry said in a statement. They discussed the implementation of the second phase of the October ceasefire that stopped the war, including the deployment of an international monitoring force, the opening of the Rafah crossing, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the strip, the statement said.
The Egyptian minister said that implementing the second phase is a “key entry point” to launch Gaza’s reconstruction.
The statement didn’t say when the crossing, a crucial part of the ceasefire deal, will open for travelers and the evacuation of sick and wounded.
An official associated with the Board of Peace, Trump’s coalition of international leaders who will oversee the Gaza ceasefire, said that he was “hopeful” the last issues concerning the opening of the Rafah crossing could be overcome in the coming days. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. “The idea is to move on with the next phase of the ceasefire, which includes this,” he said.
Israel did not comment on Shaath's declaration but is expected to discuss opening the Rafah crossing during the Cabinet meeting on Sunday.
Also on Saturday, an Israeli strike killed two Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip, according to hospital authorities.
The children, aged 13 and 15, were searching for firewood, according to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, which received the bodies.
The children were cousins and killed in the area where the Israeli military has said is safe for Palestinians, about 500 meters (yards) away the Yellow Line, which separates the Israeli-controlled areas in eastern Gaza from the rest of the strip, said their uncle Arafat al-Zawara.
“They were targeted directly, not through any fault of their own,” he told The Associated Press outside the hospital morgue.
The Israeli military said it had targeted several militants that crossed the Yellow Line and planted explosives, threatening troops. It denied that those killed were children.
Yusuf Zawara, covered in blood, desperately begged for his son, Mohamed, to wake up. “No, he is not dead,” he said as he hugged his body. “Mohamed, oh Mohamed, come on, get up.”
“They hit you with a missile. You couldn’t escape? Run, people, run! Why didn’t you run away?” he sobbed, bending over his son's lifeless body.
Arafat al-Zawara, the uncle of the second boy who was killed, tried to wipe the blood from his nephew's face, pleaded with him to get up so they could go get some grilled chicken wings.
The desperate search for firewood is forcing many Palestinians to approach areas close to the Israeli withdrawal line, as they search for anything that can be burned, including garbage and plastic, in order to cook and warm themselves. There’s been no central electricity in Gaza since the first few days of the war, and fuel for generators is scarce.
Hundreds of thousands of people are living in tent camps and war-damaged buildings in Gaza as temperatures drop below 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) at night and storms blow in from the Mediterranean. At least nine children have died of severe cold in the past weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Since the Oct. 10 ceasefire, more than 480 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, according to the ministry. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own. ___
Shurafa reported from Deir Al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.
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