KEY POINTS
- Israel keeps Rafah crossing closed despite the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire.
- Both Israel and Hamas accuse each other of violating the truce.
- Israeli military offensive has killed over 67,900 Palestinians since October 2023.
- Netanyahu warns that the military offensive could resume if the deal collapses.
- UN criticises Israel’s continued blockade, saying aid must be allowed to enter Gaza.
GAZA CITY, Palestine: The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt remained closed on Thursday despite reports it would reopen to allow humanitarian aid convoys into the war-torn Palestinian territory, as Israel and Hamas traded blame for violating a fragile US-brokered ceasefire.
Israel said it was preparing to reopen the key crossing for the movement of people but gave no date, while reiterating that humanitarian aid would continue to enter Gaza through other crossings.
The continuing blockade has deepened fears of a worsening humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged enclave, where famine was declared by the United Nations in August.
Israel, Hamas trade blame for violating truce
Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said Israel was committed to the ceasefire and was meeting its obligations under the agreement, but demanded that Hamas return the bodies of 19 deceased hostages still unaccounted for.
Hamas, meanwhile, accused Israel of breaching the truce by killing at least 24 Palestinians in shootings since Friday.
“The occupying state is working day and night to undermine the agreement through its violations on the ground,” a senior Hamas official said, adding that a list of violations had been submitted to international mediators.
Medical sources in Gaza, cited by Al Jazeera, said that two Palestinians were killed on Wednesday — one by Israeli fire in eastern Bureij refugee camp and another in a drone strike in central Gaza.
Ceasefire deal under Trump plan
The ceasefire was brokered under a plan spearheaded by US President Donald Trump, who announced last week that Israel and Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire and exchange hostages and prisoners.
Under the deal’s first phase, Hamas released 20 living Israeli hostages and handed over the remains of eight others, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
The ceasefire ended nearly two years of devastating Israeli bombardment campaign that began after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 67,900 Palestinians — mostly women and children — have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 2023, with large parts of the enclave rendered uninhabitable.
Trump told CNN that he had restrained Israel from resuming its military operations but warned that military operations could restart if Hamas failed to meet its obligations.
“Israel will return to those streets as soon as I say the word,” he said. “If Hamas refuses to disarm, Israel will go back in — and it’ll happen quickly.”
Hostage-Prisoner exchange continues
Israel’s military said on Thursday it had returned the bodies of 30 Palestinians to Gaza, bringing the total number handed back to 120. Under the ceasefire terms, Israel must return 15 Palestinian bodies for every deceased Israeli captive.
Hamas said it had transferred the remains of two more Israeli captives and had fulfilled its commitments to return all the bodies it could recover.
The Palestinian group’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said further recovery efforts were hampered by widespread destruction and that “specialised equipment” was required to retrieve remains buried under rubble.
Senior US advisers said that Hamas had indicated its intention to honour the deal. “They continue to say they want to see the deal completed in that regard,” one adviser said as quoted by AFP, noting that the recovery process was “gruesome” and “technically difficult.”
Netanyahu vows to continue pressure on Hamas
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is determined to bring back all remaining hostages and their bodies.
“The fight is not over yet,” he said at a ceremony in Jerusalem marking the second anniversary of the October 7 attack. “Whoever lays a hand on us knows they will pay a very heavy price.”
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a prominent Israeli advocacy group, urged the government to suspend further stages of the truce until Hamas returns the remaining bodies.
Defence Minister Israel Katz also warned that Israel would “resume fighting” if Hamas did not comply with the terms of the deal.
“If Hamas refuses to comply, Israel, in coordination with the United States, will act to achieve a total defeat of Hamas,” his office said in a statement.
Dire humanitarian situation in Gaza
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said he was “frustrated” that the ceasefire had yet to allow for a meaningful flow of relief aid into Gaza.
“As Israel has agreed, they must allow the massive surge of humanitarian aid — thousands of trucks a week — on which so many lives depend,” Fletcher said.
Israel’s defence ministry body overseeing civil affairs, COGAT, stated that the Rafah crossing would be reopened “at a later stage” for people only, not for aid convoys. “Humanitarian aid will not pass through the Rafah crossing. This was never agreed upon at any stage,” the Israeli body said.
For Gazans, the end of the Israeli bombardment brought relief but little hope. “There’s no water, no food, nothing left,” said Mustafa Mahram, who returned to Gaza City after the ceasefire. “An entire city has been destroyed.”
Trump’s Gaza plan envisions a new governing mechanism without Hamas, a multinational stabilisation force, and the disarmament of Palestinian factions — steps that analysts say could prove as difficult to enforce as the ceasefire itself.
