Aid trucks rolled into Gaza on Wednesday (15 October) and Israel resumed preparations to open the main Rafah crossing as Hamas handed over more bodies of dead hostages, following a dispute that had threatened the fragile ceasefire.
Israel had warned it could keep Rafah shut and reduce aid supplies because it said Hamas was returning bodies too slowly, showing the risks to a truce that has stopped two years of devastating warfare in Gaza and seen all living hostages held by Hamas freed.
However, the militant group returned several Israeli bodies overnight and two more coffins later on Wednesday (15 October).
An Israeli security official said preparations were under way to open Rafah to Gazan citizens, while a second official said that 600 aid trucks would go in.
Seeking to keep the pressure on Hamas, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would consider allowing Israeli forces to resume fighting in Gaza if Hamas fails to uphold its end of the ceasefire deal that he brokered.
"Israel will return to those streets as soon as I say the word. If Israel could go in and knock the crap of them, they’d do that," Trump was quoted as saying to CNN in a brief telephone call.
Hamas returned four bodies confirmed as dead hostages on Monday and another four bodies late on Tuesday (14 October), though Israeli authorities said one of those bodies was not that of a hostage.
The Israeli military said it received two more coffins from the Red Cross at a meeting point in northern Gaza Strip late on Wednesday (15 October), and the bodies were being taken for forensic identification.
The dispute over the return of bodies still has the potential to upset the ceasefire deal along with other major issues that are yet to be resolved.
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