Israel Rejects Returned Remains as Ceasefire Plan Faces New Obstacles and Rafah Crossing Reopening Nears

BY EMMANUEL OGBONNA

Israel said on Wednesday that remains handed over by Palestinian militants a day earlier did not belong to the two hostages still unaccounted for in Gaza, casting fresh uncertainty over the opening phase of the fragile ceasefire agreement. At the same time, Israeli authorities announced preparations to reopen the Rafah border crossing for Palestinians seeking to leave the enclave, signalling that elements of the U.S.-supported roadmap were still moving ahead despite growing tensions.

Under the first phase of the multi-stage plan, militants are required to return the bodies of all remaining hostages, a step seen as crucial to maintaining momentum toward broader negotiations. But the inability of armed groups to locate the last two sets of remains—believed to be buried somewhere under the vast destruction of Gaza—now threatens to stall progress.

Militants have told mediators they are combing through heavily damaged areas once again. According to Israeli officials, the missing individuals are Israeli police officer Ran Gvili and Thai agricultural worker Sudthisak Rinthalak, both killed during the October 7 attacks and subsequently taken into Gaza. After conducting forensic tests, Israeli authorities confirmed that remains delivered on Tuesday matched neither of the missing individuals.

Saraya al-Quds, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said fighters began a renewed search early Wednesday in northern Gaza, accompanied by personnel from the Red Cross. The group wrote on its Telegram channel that locating the bodies amid collapsed buildings and deep rubble has proven far more difficult than anticipated.

Gvili, who assisted civilians fleeing the Nova music festival before being killed several hours later in a separate battle, is survived by his parents and sister. Rinthalak had been working in Israel for several years at Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the communities most devastated during the attacks. Thailand has confirmed that 31 of its citizens were abducted that day—the largest number of foreign nationals taken—and that 46 have been killed during the conflict. Most Thai hostages were released in earlier ceasefire rounds.

So far, twenty living hostages and the remains of twenty-six others have been returned to Israel since the truce took hold in early October. Israel and Hamas have repeatedly accused each other of violating various terms of the deal, from withholding information on hostages to carrying out attacks that endanger civilians.

Despite these complications, Israel’s military liaison office, COGAT, announced that the Rafah crossing could reopen within days. It said coordination was underway with Egypt and that European Union monitors would oversee operations at the site.

Palestinians hoping to exit Gaza would need Israeli security approval, though one Israeli official—speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the arrangements—said that in practice anyone allowed by Egypt to enter its territory would be permitted to do so. The official added that the EU still needed to finalize logistical preparations before movement could begin.

Rafah has remained largely sealed since May 2024, when Israeli forces entered the area during a major military operation. It briefly reopened in February for medical evacuations under the previous truce. International organizations, including the World Health Organization, say more than 16,500 wounded and chronically ill people require evacuation for urgent care.

The broader agreement calls for the eventual deployment of an international stabilization force, the formation of a technocratic Palestinian administration, and steps toward disarming Hamas. Diplomats describe this sequence as the most ambitious peace framework proposed since the conflict began more than a year ago.

In a separate development, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the appointment of a special envoy to participate in exploratory talks with Lebanese diplomatic and economic representatives. The move, his office said, aims to lay the groundwork for potential cooperation between the long-hostile neighbors. Israeli media identified the envoy as veteran diplomat Uri Resnick. Israel and Lebanon remain technically in a state of war, and cross-border clashes with Hezbollah have continued at varying intensity since last year’s conflict ended in a fragile ceasefire.

Meanwhile, the exchange of bodies continues to be one of the most sensitive elements of the current agreement. For each returned hostage or set of remains, Israel has been handing over Palestinian bodies held in its custody. Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that it has received 330 remains to date but has been able to identify only a small portion due to the scarcity of DNA testing supplies and the condition of many bodies.

Israeli officials say militants have at times handed over partial remains or staged recovery scenes to mask gaps in information. Hamas, in turn, accuses Israel of firing on civilians during the ceasefire and obstructing aid deliveries, even as casualty numbers have declined compared with the height of the fighting. Gaza health authorities continue to report deaths from Israeli strikes, while Israel says its soldiers have also been targeted by militants despite the truce.

The ceasefire seeks to halt a war triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, which killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 hostages taken into Gaza. Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 70,100 Palestinians have been killed since the conflict began, though the figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. International humanitarian agencies say the ministry’s data, while imperfect, has historically been broadly reliable.

As both sides weigh whether the ceasefire can survive the latest complications, international pressure continues for progress on a plan many governments view as the last viable path toward easing Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and reducing the risk of a wider regional conflict.