Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the war in Gaza would not be over until Hamas was disarmed and the Palestinian territory demilitarised.
His declaration came as Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, handed over the remains of two further hostages last night under a US-brokered ceasefire agreement.
Mr Netanyahu’s office said that a Red Cross team had received the remains of two hostages from Hamas and handed them to Israeli forces in Gaza, from where they would be taken to Israel to be identified.
The issue of the deceased hostages still in Gaza has become a sticking point in the implementation of the first phase of the ceasefire. Israel has linked the reopening of the key Rafah crossing to the territory to the recovery of the hostages’ remains.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announced that a Red Cross team had received the remains of two hostages from Hamas
Mr Netanyahu cautioned that completing the ceasefire’s second phase was essential to ending the war and involved the disarming of Hamas and the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip.
“When that is successfully completed – hopefully in an easy way, but if not, in a hard way – then the war will end,” he added in an appearance on right-wing Israeli Channel 14.
Hamas has so far resisted the idea and since the pause in fighting has moved to reassert its control over Gaza.
The US State Department said it had “credible reports” that Hamas was planning an imminent attack against civilians in Gaza, warning that it would be a “ceasefire violation”.
“Should Hamas proceed with this attack, measures will be taken to protect the people of Gaza and preserve the integrity of the ceasefire,” it said in a statement, without elaborating on the nature or target of such an attack.
Rafah crossing closed
Under the ceasefire deal brokered by US President Donald Trump, Hamas has so far released all 20 living hostages, along with the remains of nine Israelis and one Nepalese.
In exchange, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and 135 other bodies of Palestinians since the truce came into effect on 10 October.
Members of the Egyptian Red Crescent pack aid at the aid warehouse in Al-Arish near the Rafah crossing
Hamas has said it needs time and technical assistance to recover the remaining bodies, which it says are buried under Gaza’s rubble.
Mr Netanyahu’s office said he had “directed that the Rafah crossing remain closed until further notice”.
“Its reopening will be considered based on how Hamas fulfils its part in returning the hostages and the bodies of the deceased, and in implementing the agreed-upon framework,” it said, referring to the week-old ceasefire deal.
Hamas warned late yesterday that the closure of the Rafah crossing would cause “significant delays in the retrieval and transfer of remains”.
Further delays to the reopening could also complicate the task facing Tom Fletcher, the UN head of humanitarian relief, who was in northern Gaza yesterday.
“To see the devastation – this is a vast part of the city, just a wasteland – and it’s absolutely devastating to see,” he told AFP.
Mr Fletcher said the task ahead for the UN and aid agencies was a “massive, massive job”.
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He added that he had met residents returning to destroyed homes who were trying to dig latrines in the ruins.
“We have a massive 60-day plan now to surge in food, get a million meals out there a day, start to rebuild the health sector, bring in tents for the winter, get hundreds of thousands of kids back into school,” he said.
Gaza killings continue
Some violence has persisted despite the ceasefire.
Gaza’s civil defence agency, which operates under Hamas authority, said that it had recovered the bodies of 11 Palestinians from a family after Israeli troops fired two tank shells at a bus.
Two more victims were killed in the blast and their remains have yet to be recovered, it said.
The Israeli military said it had fired on a vehicle that approached the so-called “yellow line”, to which its forces withdrew under the terms of the ceasefire, and gave no estimate of casualties.