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Israel has announced that it has agreed to reopen the Gaza Strip’s key border crossing with Egypt only after an operation to retrieve the body of the last remaining Israeli hostage in the territory is completed.

The Rafah crossing has been mostly closed since May 2024, when Israeli forces took control of the Palestinian side. 

It was originally scheduled to reopen during the first stage of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which began in October.

The reopening is now conditional on Hamas making every effort to return the body of the last hostage, police officer Master Sgt Ran Gvili. On Sunday, Israel’s military said it had begun a new search for his remains in northern Gaza.

Israeli media cited military officials saying the operation is taking place at a cemetery in Gaza City and could last several days. 

This comes as US and other mediators continue to press both sides to take the next steps in implementing President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

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On Sunday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that Israel had “agreed to a limited reopening of the Rafah crossing for pedestrian passage only, subject to a full Israeli inspection mechanism”.

The Israeli military said it was “currently conducting a focused operation to exhaust all of the intelligence that has been gathered in the effort to locate and return” Gvili’s remains. “Upon completion of this operation, and in accordance with what has been agreed upon with the US, Israel will open the Rafah crossing,” it added.

Earlier, the military said troops had “begun a targeted operation in the area of the Yellow Line in the northern Gaza Strip” to retrieve Gvili’s body. 

The Yellow Line marks the territory still controlled by Israeli forces under the ceasefire deal.

Israeli officials told local media that the operation is based on intelligence collected over time, suggesting Gvili’s remains might be buried in the Shejaiya and Daraj Tuffah areas of Gaza City, east of the Yellow Line. Specialised units, including rabbis, search teams, and dental experts with mobile X-ray machines, were on site.

Hamas’s military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said on Sunday that it had “provided mediators with all the details and information in our possession regarding the location” of Gvili’s body. Israeli forces were “searching one of the sites,” it added.

Gvili’s family reiterated their strong opposition to reopening the Rafah crossing before his body is returned to Israel. “First and foremost, Ran must be brought home,” they said.

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

On Saturday, US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner led a delegation that met Israel’s prime minister to discuss phase two of the Gaza peace plan. Witkoff described the meeting as “constructive and positive”.

Phase one involved Hamas and Israel agreeing to a ceasefire, exchanging all Israeli hostages in Gaza for Palestinians in Israeli jails, a partial Israeli withdrawal, and an increase in humanitarian aid. 

Phase two is intended to establish a technocratic Palestinian government in Gaza to manage public services, reconstruction, and full demilitarization of the territory, including the disarmament of Hamas and other groups.

The conflict began with the 7 October 2023 attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken to Gaza as hostages. Israel responded with a military campaign, during which more than 71,650 people have died, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

(Reuters)