The Israeli army said on Monday that the body had been repatriated to Israel. Hamas said the development removed any remaining pretext for Israel to withhold its obligations under the agreement.
“The discovery of the body of the last Israeli prisoner in Gaza confirms Hamas’s commitment to all the requirements of the ceasefire agreement, including the prisoner exchange process and its complete closure as stipulated,” Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said in a statement.
Under Phase One of the ceasefire, Israel was required to complete several humanitarian and military measures within days of the truce taking effect. These included the return of all remaining captives within 72 hours, allowing the entry of 600 aid trucks per day, reopening the Rafah crossing with Egypt for cargo and passengers, and withdrawing its forces to a demarcation line known as the Yellow Line.
Israel has not fully implemented those steps. Aid deliveries remain restricted, the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing has stayed closed, and Israeli forces continue to operate beyond agreed withdrawal lines.
Aid restrictions
Days after the ceasefire began, Israel said it would allow only 300 aid trucks per day, half the agreed figure. By the end of October, 3,203 trucks had entered Gaza out of a required 13,200, a compliance rate of about 24 percent.
United Nations (UN) and Associated Press (AP) analyses published in December found that an average of 459 trucks per day entered Gaza between 12 October, when aid flows resumed, and 7 December.
UN data shows that 6,545 trucks were offloaded at Gaza crossings between the start of the ceasefire and 7 December, averaging about 113 trucks per day. The figures do not include aid delivered outside the UN system. Israeli data also shows averages well below the agreed 600 trucks per day.
Israel has also blocked the entry of heavy machinery needed to clear rubble and recover thousands of Palestinian bodies believed to be buried under destroyed buildings.
Keeping the Rafah crossing closed
The Rafah crossing was expected to reopen during the first phase of the US-backed ceasefire brokered by Cairo, Doha, Ankara, and Washington in October. Israel has kept it closed, further restricting humanitarian access.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel had agreed only to reopen Rafah “for pedestrian passage, subject to a full Israeli inspection mechanism.”
On Monday, Israel announced a “limited reopening” of the crossing, linking it to the completion of its operation to recover the last captive’s remains. The crossing has been shut for nearly nine months after Israeli forces bombed it and seized control of the Palestinian side in May 2024.
Israeli media reported that US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner pressed Netanyahu to reopen Rafah during talks in Jerusalem.
Key details remain unclear, including whether medical patients will be allowed to leave Gaza for treatment abroad and whether those who exit will be permitted to return.
Netanyahu’s statement followed comments by Gaza’s newly appointed administrator, Ali Shaath, who said the crossing would open “in both directions” this week.
“For Palestinians in Gaza, Rafah is more than a gate; it is a lifeline and a symbol of opportunity,” Shaath said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Several Gazans told AFP they were dismayed by the prospect of only a partial reopening.
“After two and a half years of war, doesn’t the world realize the entire population of Gaza is ill, and that people have the right to choose whether to stay or leave, even if only temporarily?” said Mohammed Ala, 49, whose wife travelled to Egypt for medical treatment before the war and has not returned.
Maha Youssef, 37, displaced to eastern Gaza City, said travel represents “a dream of returning to life.”
“Even if it is financially difficult and likely unstable, my children would be able to see what a normal life looks like and live it; at least they would be able to go to school,” she added.
Several Gazans told AFP that it was depressing to hear Israel had only agreed to a limited reopening of the crossing.
Operating beyond the Yellow Line
Nearly the entire population of Gaza—over two million people—was displaced at least once during Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, according to the UN. The ceasefire was expected to allow civilians to return as Israeli forces withdrew, but Palestinian officials say that has not occurred.
The Gaza Government Media Office says Israeli forces committed at least 194 ceasefire violations by November, including incursions beyond the Yellow Line, airstrikes, shelling, gunfire, and severe restrictions on essential supplies.
The Yellow Line, a non-physical demarcation south of Gaza City and north of Khan Younis, was meant to mark the limit of Israeli troop deployment per the ceasefire. Palestinians have been warned not to approach the area, with Palestinian officials citing cases in which civilians inspecting damaged homes were shot.
In January, Reuters reported that Israel had unilaterally moved concrete blocks marking the Yellow Line up to 200 metres deeper into parts of Gaza, including Gaza City’s Al-Tuffah neighbourhood. Satellite imagery showed subsequent demolitions of at least 40 buildings and the construction of new fortified positions.
Reuters said Israeli forces had established at least six fortified sites in areas meant to be vacated under the ceasefire, effectively expanding zones barred to Palestinians.
The latest UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) update says Israeli forces remain deployed in more than 50 percent of Gaza beyond the Yellow Line, with airstrikes, shelling, and gunfire continuing to be reported.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, between 29 December and 14 January, Israel killed 36 Palestinians and injured 100 others. Additionally, the bodies of 26 Palestinians were recovered from beneath the rubble.
Since the ceasefire took effect, Israel has killed 449 Palestinians and injured 1,246 others. In total, the bodies of 710 Palestinians have been retrieved.
The overall death toll since the outbreak of Israel's genocidal war on the strip in October 2023 has reached 71,439, with 171,324 injured, most of them women and children. The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) said more than 100 children have been killed since the ceasefire, roughly one per day.
Short link: