Jerusalem (AP) — Hamas said it would hand over the remains of a hostage as Israel said it would begin letting Palestinians leave Gaza through the Rafah border crossing, signs of a U.S.-backed ceasefire, despite an earlier error over the returned remains.
Hamas said it would return the newly discovered remains on Wednesday, but it was not immediately clear who they belonged to. Only two hostages are believed to remain in Gaza and the first phase of the deal is expected to conclude when both are returned.
The agreement calls for the long-closed Rafah crossing to be opened for medical evacuations and travel to and from the strip. The World Health Organization says there are more than 16,500 sick and injured people who need to leave Gaza for medical care.
An Israeli official told The Associated Press that Rafah would only be open for Palestinians to leave Gaza, not to enter. Egypt, which controls the other side, said the crossing would only open if movement went both ways.
Following the exchanges, the 20-point plan calls for the creation of an international stabilization force, the formation of a technocratic Palestinian government and the disarmament of Hamas.
Planned teaching comes after a problem
Hamas said it would return another hostage at 5 p.m. Once received by Israel, the remains will likely undergo tests to determine if they belong to any of the hostages still in Gaza.
In the earlier issue, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said forensic tests on Wednesday revealed that the partial remains returned by the militants on Tuesday did not match any of the hostages still in Gaza.
Palestinian militants resumed the search and said later Wednesday that they had found the body of a hostage in northern Gaza.
Two hostage bodies are still in Gaza: Israeli Ran Gvili and Thai Sudthisak Rinthalak. Gvili was an Israeli police officer who helped people escape from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, and was killed fighting at another location. Sudthisak Rinthalak was a farm worker from Thailand who had been employed at Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the communities hardest hit in the attack.
A total of 31 Thai workers were kidnapped, the largest group of foreigners held in captivity. Most of them were released in the first and second ceasefires. The Thai Foreign Ministry said, in addition to the hostages, 46 Thais were killed during the war.
Rafah to open in ‘coming days’
The statement about allowing Palestinians to leave Gaza through Rafah came from COGAT, the Israeli military body tasked with facilitating aid to Gaza. He said Israel would coordinate with Egypt on the Palestinian withdrawal, under the supervision of a European Union mission.
Those wishing to leave Gaza will need “the approval of Israeli security,” COGAT said.
The US State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, writing on X, said the opening of the crossing was a measure that would allow “Gaza’s most vulnerable” access to medical care outside Gaza.
But an Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operational plans, said all Palestinians who want to leave Gaza will be able to move through Rafah if Egypt agrees to take them.
The official said the crossing would not open for returns to Gaza.
Egypt’s State Intelligence Service has denied that the Rafah crossing will be “only for the exit” of Palestinians from Gaza. Citing an unnamed Egyptian official, the service said the crossing, if an agreement is reached, would be for travel in both directions, in line with the plan advanced by US President Donald Trump.
The crossing was sealed in May 2024 when the Israeli army invaded the area. It was briefly opened in February this year to evacuate sick and injured Palestinians for treatment as part of the previous ceasefire agreement.
Israel appoints a representative of Lebanon
Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel would send an envoy for talks with Lebanese diplomatic and economic officials, marking an “initial attempt to create a basis for relations and economic cooperation” between the two countries.
Israeli media identified the envoy as Uri Resnick, a former diplomat and deputy director for foreign policy at the National Security Council.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said he would appoint a civilian to the previously all-military committee to monitor the implementation of the US-brokered ceasefire that halted the latest Israel-Hezbollah war. The move was to defend Lebanese sovereignty and interests, he said.
Israel and Lebanon have been in a state of war since 1948. Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fought a months-long war that ended in a shocking ceasefire a year ago.
Lebanese representative Simon Karam, a lawyer and former ambassador to the US, will take part in Wednesday’s committee meeting, Aoun said. The committee includes representatives of Lebanon, Israel, the US, France and the UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL.
Palestinian hospital says Israel has killed a man in Gaza
A Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, a hospital said, marking the latest Palestinian death reported in Gaza.
Israeli forces shot the 46-year-old man in the Zeitoun neighborhood of eastern Gaza City, according to Al-Ahli Hospital, which received the body. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The hospital said the man was shot while in the “safe zone”, which under the ceasefire is not controlled by the Israeli army.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 360 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect on October 11. The ministry puts the total number of Palestinian deaths from the war at over 70,100. The ministry does not distinguish between militants and civilians, although it says about half of those killed were women and children. The ministry operates under the Hamas-led government. It is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records that are generally considered reliable by the international community.
Returning Palestinian bodies to the flow
Twenty live hostages and the remains of 26 others have been returned to Israel since the ceasefire began in early October. Both Hamas and Israel have accused the other of violating the ceasefire several times.
The dead swaps were the centerpiece of the initial phase of the US-brokered deal, which requires Hamas to return the remains of all hostages as soon as possible.
Israel released 15 Palestinian bodies for the remains of each hostage as part of the ceasefire agreement. Gaza’s health ministry said the total number of remains received so far was 330. Gaza health officials said they had only been able to identify some of the bodies handed over by Israel, and the process was complicated by a lack of DNA testing kits.
The exchanges took place even as Israel and Hamas accused each other of violating other terms of the agreement. Israeli officials have accused Hamas of handing over partial remains in some cases and organizing the discovery of bodies in others.
Hamas has accused Israel of opening fire on civilians and restricting the flow of humanitarian aid into the territory. The death toll has dropped since the ceasefire took effect, but Gaza officials continued to report deaths from the strikes, while Israel said soldiers were also killed in militant attacks.
The ceasefire aims to end the war that was sparked by the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel, which has killed around 1,200 people and seen 251 taken hostage.
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Magdy reported from Cairo. Abby Sewell contributed from Beirut.