On Sunday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that Israel had “agreed to a limited reopening of the Rafah crossing for pedestrian passage only, subject to a full Israeli inspection mechanism”.

The Israeli military was “currently conducting a focused operation to exhaust all of the intelligence that has been gathered in the effort to locate and return” the remains of Ran Gvili, a statement said.

“Upon completion of this operation, and in accordance with what has been agreed upon with the US, Israel will open the Rafah crossing,” it added.

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper cited a source as saying there would be a “full Israeli monitoring mechanism” at the crossing, which would include oversight of entry and exit lists.

Israel also planned to establish an additional screening point for all people entering Gaza located in an area around the Yellow Line, which demarcates the territory still controlled by Israeli forces under the ceasefire deal, the source added.

Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli military said troops had “begun a targeted operation in the area of the Yellow Line in the northern Gaza Strip” to retrieve Gvili’s body.

Israeli military officials told local media that the operation was acting on intelligence collected over a long period of time, which indicated that Gvili’s remains might have been buried in the Shejaiya and Daraj Tuffah areas of Gaza City, east of the Yellow Line.

Specialised units were on the ground, including rabbis, search teams and dental experts equipped with mobile X-ray machines, they added.

Hamas’s military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said on Sunday that it had “provided mediators with all the details and information in our possession regarding the location” of Gvili’s body.

Israeli forces were “searching one of the sites,” it added.

Gvili’s family meanwhile reiterated their strong opposition to the reopening of the Rafah crossing before his body had been returned to Israel for burial. “First and foremost, Ran must be brought home,” they said.

The 24-year-old was killed in Kibbutz Alumim during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023 and his body was taken back to Gaza as a hostage.