Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt is set to reopen for Palestinian movement, though no date has been announced as tensions flare and both sides accuse each other of breaching the U.S.-brokered ceasefire, Israel said on Thursday.
A row over the return of bodies of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza retains the potential to upend the truce along with other major planks of the plan yet to be resolved, including disarmament of militants and Gaza's future governance.
Israel demanded that Hamas fulfill its obligations in turning over the unrecovered bodies of all 28 hostages who died during the war.
The Islamist faction said it had handed over 10 bodies but Israel said one of them was not that of a hostage.
"We will not compromise on this, and we will spare no effort until our fallen hostages return, every last one of them," Israel's government spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The armed wing of Hamas said the handover of more bodies in Gaza would require the admission of heavy machinery and excavating equipment.
On Thursday, a senior Hamas official accused Israel of flouting the ceasefire by having killed at least 24 people in shootings since Friday, and said a list of such violations was handed over to mediators.
"The occupying state is working day and night to undermine the agreement through its violations on the ground," he said.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to the Hamas accusations. It has previously said some Palestinians have ignored warnings not to approach Israeli ceasefire positions and troops "opened fire to remove the threat".
Israel has said the next phase of the 20-point plan to end the war engineered by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration calls for Hamas to relinquish its weapons and cede power, which it has so far refused to do.
Hamas has instead launched a security crackdown in urban areas vacated by Israeli forces, parading its power through public executions and clashes with local armed clans.
Twenty remaining living hostages were freed on Monday in exchange for thousands of Palestinians jailed in Israel.
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Israel has recovered the remains of the last remaining hostage held in Gaza, the military said on Monday, fulfilling a key condition of the initial phase of U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to end the war in the Palestinian territory.
Israel will reopen Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt for the passage of people only after completing an operation to locate the body of the last remaining Israeli hostage in the territory, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said late on Sunday.
The head of an armed Palestinian faction that opposes Hamas in Gaza died while mediating a family dispute, the group said on Thursday.
Israel received a body that Hamas said was one of the last two deceased hostages in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, as Israel said it would allow Gaza's gateway to Egypt to open once all hostages were returned.
A seven-month-old Japanese macaque has drawn international attention after forming an unusual bond with a stuffed orangutan toy after being rejected by its mother.
Divers have recovered the bodies of seven Chinese tourists and a Russian driver after their minibus broke through the ice of on Lake Baikal in Russia, authorities said.
President Donald Trump said on Saturday (21 February) that he will raise temporary tariffs on nearly all U.S. imports from 10% to 15%, the maximum allowed under the law, after the Supreme Court struck down his previous tariff program.
Pakistan said it carried out cross-border strikes on militant targets inside Afghanistan after blaming a series of recent suicide bombings, including attacks during the holy month of Ramadan, on fighters it said were operating from Afghan territory.
Iran announced on Saturday (21 February) that it has designated the naval and air forces of European Union member states as “terrorist entities” in a reciprocal move after the EU blacklisted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Iran has signed a secret €500 million arms deal with Russia to rebuild air defences, weakened during last year’s war with Israel, the Financial Times has reported. The agreement, signed in December in Moscow, will see Russia deliver 500 Verba launch units and 2,500 9M336 missiles over three years.
Syria has secured a $50 million financing package from the World Bank to support transport infrastructure projects as the country advances its economic recovery efforts, Syrian media reported on Sunday.
The United States and Iran will hold a new round of nuclear negotiations in Geneva on Thursday as part of renewed diplomatic efforts to reach a potential agreement, Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi announced on Sunday.
Islamic State claimed two attacks on Syrian army personnel on Saturday (22 February), saying they marked the start of a new phase of operations against the country’s leadership under President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Pakistan said it carried out cross-border strikes on militant targets inside Afghanistan after blaming a series of recent suicide bombings, including attacks during the holy month of Ramadan, on fighters it said were operating from Afghan territory.
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