CAIRO (AP) — The Palestinian Embassy in Egypt says the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt will open Monday to people returning to the Gaza Strip.
The embassy announced this in a statement on Saturday.
“The number of people who have registered to return to Gaza is very high,” Naji al-Naji, the embassy's cultural adviser, told The Associated Press, without specifying how many.
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
The crossing is Gaza's only gateway to the outside world that was not controlled by Israel before the war. It has been closed since May 2024, when Israel took control of Gaza.
THIS IS BREAKING NEWS. AP's earlier story appears below.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Gaza The ruins of the house were being combed for the dead on Saturday, more than a week after the ceasefire, as newly discovered bodies brought the Palestinian toll to more than 68,000.
Israel stated that remains of the tenth hostage The persons transferred by Hamas the day before were identified as Eliyahu Margalit.
The handover of the hostages' remains, called for in the ceasefire agreement, is one of the key points – along with the delivery of aid to Gaza and the future of the devastated territory – in a process supported by much of the international community to end the two-year war.
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office said Margalit's family had been notified. The 76-year-old was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war. His remains were found after bulldozers plowed holes in the southern city of Khan Yunis.
Attempts followed to find the remaining 18 hostages. warning from US President Donald Trump that he would give Israel the green light to resume the war if Hamas did not fulfill its part of the agreement and return them all.
In a statement, the hostage forum, which supports the families of those abducted, said they will not rest until those remaining are released. the hostages return home. The forum said it would continue to hold weekly rallies until everyone was returned.
Hamas said it was committed to the terms of the ceasefire agreement, but the return of the remains was hampered by the scale of the destruction and the presence of unexploded ordnance. The group told mediators that some of the remains were in areas controlled by Israeli forces.
As part of the ceasefire agreement, Israel returned the bodies of 15 more Palestinians to Gaza on Saturday. Gaza's health ministry said the International Committee of the Red Cross handed over the bodies to Nasser Hospital, bringing the total number of those returning from Israel to 135.
In announcing the updated Palestinian death toll, the ministry said the number had risen since the ceasefire began, with most of the newly counted bodies found during reconstruction efforts.
Thousands of people are still missing, according to the Red Cross.
Hamas accuses Israel of abuses
Hamas again accused Israel of continuing attacks and violating the ceasefire, saying 38 Palestinians had been killed since it began. There was no immediate reaction from Israel, which still controls about half of Gaza.
On Friday, the Gaza Civil Defense, a first responder agency operating under the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, said nine people were killed, including women and children, when their vehicle was hit by Israeli fire in Gaza City. Civil Defense said the vehicle entered Israeli-controlled territory in eastern Gaza.
Civil Defense said Israel could have warned people in a way that was not lethal. The team discovered the bodies on Saturday with coordination from the UN, it said.
The Israeli army said it saw a “suspicious vehicle” cross the so-called yellow line and approach the troops. The department said it fired warning shots, but the vehicle continued to approach, posing an “imminent threat.” The army said it acted in accordance with the ceasefire.
Demand for more aid
Hamas called on mediators to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza for its 2 million people, speed up the opening Rafah border crossing with Egypt and begin restoring the battered territory.
The flow of aid remains limited due to continued closures of checkpoints and Israeli restrictions on aid groups.
UN data on Friday showed that 339 trucks had been offloaded for distribution in the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire began. According to the agreement, about 600 trucks carrying humanitarian aid should be allowed in per day.
COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing aid in the Gaza Strip, reported 950 trucks, including commercial trucks and bilateral supplies, crossing the border on Thursday and 716 on Wednesday, according to the UN.
Throughout the war, Israel limited aid to Gaza and sometimes stopped it altogether.
International food security experts declared famine in Gaza CityThe UN says it has verified more than 400 people who died from malnutrition-related causes, including more than 100 children.
Israel has long said it missed out on enough food and accused Hamas of stealing much of it. The UN and other aid agencies deny this claim.
Gaza's health ministry is part of the Hamas-run government. He keeps detailed records of losses that considered generally reliable UN agencies and independent experts. Israel disputes them without reporting its own losses.
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Magdi reported from Cairo.
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Follow AP's war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Sam Mednick and Sami Magdy, The Associated Press
