Officials say reopening of gateway between Gaza and Egypt would depend on Hamas returning remains of dead hostages
The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will stay closed “until further notice,” Israel has said, after the Palestinian embassy in Cairo said the territory’s sole gateway to the outside world would reopen Monday.
The statement by Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said reopening Rafah would depend on how Hamas fulfils its ceasefire role of returning the remains of all 28 dead hostages. Israel’s foreign ministry earlier said the crossing would likely reopen on Sunday.
Hamas has handed over the remains of 10 hostages and said it would hand over the remains of two more Saturday night.
The handover of remains is among key points – along with aid deliveries into Gaza and the devastated territory’s future – in the ceasefire process meant to end two years of war.
