Israel said on Monday it would allow a limited reopening of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt for pedestrian traffic only, but only after recovering the body of Israeli officer Ran Gvili, as part of efforts linked to the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel’s security cabinet had approved a “limited” reopening for “pedestrian passage” only, under full Israeli supervision. The crossing would be fully opened once the search for Gvili’s body is completed and in line with an agreement with the United States, the statement said.
Since the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, which included a provision to reopen Rafah in both directions, Israel has refused to do so, citing the failure to recover the bodies of captives.
Israeli media reported Sunday that US President Donald Trump’s envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, urged Netanyahu to reopen the crossing without waiting for Gvili’s body to be recovered.
Of the 47 Israeli captives Hamas began handing over after the ceasefire took effect in October, one body remains, that of Gvili, which Palestinian resistance groups say they have been unable to locate.
Netanyahu’s office said Hamas must make “a 100% effort” to find the body.
The Israeli cabinet said earlier Sunday that the army was carrying out a wide-scale search for the body in a cemetery in northern Gaza, based on intelligence about where it was buried, and that efforts would continue “as long as necessary.”
The Israeli military posted on X that it was searching an area “near the Yellow Line” in the north of the enclave, and urged people not to circulate rumors and wait for information from official sources, while stressing the operations would continue until the body was found.
Hamas’ armed wing said the movement had provided mediators in the ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal with all the information it had about the location of the last Israeli captive’s body.
In a statement published on Hamas’ Telegram channel, Al-Qassam Brigades said “What confirms the truth of what we say is that the enemy is now searching in one of the places based on the information the Qassam Brigades provided to the mediators.”
He said Hamas had handled the question of the captives transparently, and had “fulfilled everything required of it under the ceasefire agreement, handing over all living captives and bodies without delay,” despite what he described as Israel’s failure to comply, “dozens of violations,” and “massacres” it committed.
As Israel continues to delay opening the crossing in both directions, Israeli forces have continued military violations in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry said Sunday that three people were killed and eight were wounded after gunfire hit displaced people inside their tents east of Gaza City and Khan Younis, and that three others were wounded in an Israeli strike that hit the roof of a commercial tower that had previously been half-destroyed during the war.
