Israel has delayed the reopening of a crucial border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, saying it would only open after “necessary preparations”.
COGAT, the Israeli defence body that oversees aid to the occupied Palestinian territories, on Thursday said the Rafah crossing would only open once Israel and Egypt had completed preparations.
“It should be emphasised that humanitarian aid will not pass through the Rafah Crossing. This was never agreed upon at any stage,” COGAT said in a statement, adding that aid was delivered through other crossings.
The Rafah crossing, the only border crossing outside of Israel, has remained mostly closed since the October 7 attack.
As part of the ceasefire agreement, it was expected to reopen under “the same mechanism implemented” during a temporary ceasefire earlier this year, when it briefly reopened for medical evacuations.
The United Nations humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, earlier called for the immediate opening of more crossings.
“We rely on all the crossings to get our aid in … we want all of those crossings open and we want completely unimpeded access,” he said.
Hostage remains identified
Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli military said it had identified the remains of hostages, Inbar Hayman and Mohammad al-Atrash, whose bodies had been returned to Israel the previous night by Hamas.
Hayman, a graffiti artist from Haifa, was 27 when she was killed at the Nova music festival, with her remains taken to Gaza.
Hamas handed over the remains of more Israeli hostages to the Red Cross before they were returned to Israel. Source: AAP / Anadolu
Al-Atrash was a 39-year-old soldier of Bedouin origin killed in combat on October 7, with his body also taken to Gaza.
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, threatened to resume fighting if Hamas didn’t honour the ceasefire, saying he had ordered the military to prepare a “plan to crush” the group in the event of renewed combat.
Israel had earlier accused Hamas of breaching the agreement for failing to hand over the remains of 28 dead hostages.
Hamas said it had returned all the bodies it could access, and needed special recovery equipment to reach the rest.
“The Hamas terrorist organisation is required to uphold its commitments to the mediators and return [the hostages] as part of the implementation of the agreement. We will not compromise on this,” Katz said in a statement.
