JERUSALEM – Israel will allow Gaza’s Rafah crossing to reopen on Wednesday for humanitarian aid to enter from Egypt into the Palestinian territory, Israeli public broadcaster KAN said.
“Six hundred trucks of humanitarian aid will be dispatched (Wednesday) to the Gaza Strip by the UN, approved international organizations, the private sector and donor countries,” KAN said on its website without citing sources.
The UN and aid organizations have urged the reopening of the major crossing as Gaza faces a devastating humanitarian crisis after two years of war in the territory, sparked by Hamas Oct. 7, 2023 attack.
At the end of August, the United Nations declared famine in Gaza, though Israel rejected the claim.
The Israeli public broadcaster said the reopening of the southern Rafah crossing, decided by the “political echelon”, follows Hamas handing over the remains of four more hostages late Tuesday under a ceasefire deal that took effect on Friday.
Under the agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump, Hamas was due to hand over all hostages, both living and dead, within 72 hours of the truce coming into effect on Friday.
While the Palestinian militants did release all 20 of the living hostages it held on time, by Tuesday evening it had handed over to Israel the remains of only eight of the 28 dead hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Tuesday threatened to cut off aid supplies to Gaza if Hamas failed to return the remains of soldiers still held in the territory.
According to KAN, the decision to reopen Rafah to allow aid to pass through was also taken after Israel was informed of Hamas’s intention to return four more bodies on Wednesday, a move not yet confirmed by the militant group.
The swap has seen the last 20 surviving hostages return home in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails, as well as a halt in the fighting and bombardment.
So far, Hamas has handed back eight bodies, seven of which have been identified. The remains of 20 others remain in Gaza, and there is domestic pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to tie aid to the fate of the bodies. AFP
“It is with a broken heart and unbearable grief that we announce that the body of Tamir, my eldest and beloved son, was brought back from Gaza,” Tamir Nimrodi’s father Alon Nimrodi wrote on Facebook.
Tamir was a soldier captured at age 18 from a military base on the Gaza border.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has threatened to cut off aid supplies to Gaza if Hamas fails to return the remains of soldiers still held in the territory.
According to KAN, the decision to reopen Rafah also came after Israel was informed of Hamas’s intention to return four more bodies on Wednesday, a move not yet confirmed by the militant group.
The war sparked by Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel led to a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, with the densely-populated territory reliant on aid that was heavily restricted, when not cut off outright.
At the end of August, the United Nations declared a famine in Gaza, though Israel rejected the claim.
“Six hundred trucks of humanitarian aid will be dispatched (on Wednesday) to the Gaza Strip by the UN, approved international organizations, the private sector and donor countries,” KAN said on its website, without citing sources.
The return of aid is listed in Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza.
Another is Hamas’s disarmament, a demand rejected by the militant group, which has been the dominant Palestinian faction in Gaza since 2007.
In Gaza, the group is tightening its grip on ruined cities, launching a crackdown and executing alleged collaborators.
Hamas has published a video on its official channel showing the street execution of eight blindfolded and kneeling suspects, branding them “collaborators and outlaws”.
The footage, apparently from Monday evening, emerged as armed clashes were underway between Hamas’s various security units and armed Palestinian clans, some alleged to have Israeli backing.
In the north of the territory, as Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza City, the Hamas government’s black-masked armed police resumed street patrols.
“Our message is clear: There will be no place for outlaws or those who threaten the security of citizens,” a Palestinian security source in Gaza told AFP.
Gaza civilians who spoke to AFP broadly welcomed the crackdown.
“After the war ended and the police spread out in the streets, we started to feel safe,” said 34-year-old Abu Fadi Al-Banna, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.
Israel and the United States insist Hamas can have no role in a future Gaza government.
Trump’s plan says that Hamas members who agree to “decommission their weapons” will be given amnesty.
“If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them,” Trump told reporters at the White House a day after visiting the Middle East to celebrate the Gaza ceasefire.
“And it will happen quickly and perhaps violently.”
