Aid trucks roll into Gaza, Hamas hands over more bodies
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Aid trucks have rolled into Gaza and Israel resumed preparations to open the main Rafah crossing as Hamas handed over more bodies of dead hostages, following a dispute that had threatened the fragile ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.
Israeli authorities had threatened to keep Rafah shut and reduce aid supplies because Hamas was returning bodies too slowly, showing the risks to a truce that has stopped two years of devastating warfare in the strip and resulted in all living hostages held by Hamas being freed.
However, the militant group returned more Israeli bodies overnight and an Israeli security official said on Wednesday preparations were under way to open Rafah to Gazan citizens while a second official said 600 aid trucks would go in.
Seeking to keep the pressure on Hamas, US President Donald Trump said he would consider allowing Israeli forces to resume fighting in Gaza if Hamas fails to uphold its end of the ceasefire deal that he brokered.
“Israel will return to those streets as soon as I say the word. If Israel could go in and knock the crap of them, they’d do that,” Trump was quoted as saying to CNN.
Hamas returned four bodies confirmed as dead hostages on Monday and another four bodies late on Tuesday although Israeli authorities said one of those bodies was not that of a hostage.
The Israeli military said it received two more coffins from the Red Cross at a meeting point in northern Gaza Strip late on Wednesday, and the bodies were being taken for forensic identification.
The dispute over the return of bodies still has the potential to upset the ceasefire deal along with other major issues that are yet to be resolved.
Israel has said the next phase of the truce calls for Hamas to disarm and cede power, which it has so far refused to do.
It has launched a security crackdown, parading its power in the Gaza Strip through public executions and clashes with local clans.
Longer-term elements of the ceasefire plan, including how the enclave will be governed, the make-up of an international “stabilisation force” and moves towards the creation of a Palestinian state have yet to emerge.
Twenty-one bodies of hostages remain in the Gaza Strip although some may be hard to find or recover because of destruction during the conflict.
An international task force is meant to find them.
The deal also requires Israel to return the bodies of 360 Palestinians.
The first group of 45 was handed over on Tuesday and the bodies were being identified, Palestinian health authorities said.
Reuters video showed trucks moving from the Egyptian side of the border into the Rafah crossing with the Gaza Strip at dawn on Wednesday, some carrying fuel and others loaded with pallets of aid.
However, it was not clear if that convoy would complete its crossing into the enclave as part of the 600 trucks that were due to enter the enclave on Wednesday – the daily number required under the ceasefire plan.
Aid trucks entered the strip through other crossings.
The Rafah crossing with Egypt is due to be open for people to cross on Thursday with a European Union mission deployed there, two sources said.
It was not immediately clear if there would be any restrictions applied on the movement of people.
The Palestinian Authority, which governs in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said it was preparing to operate the crossing.
Some Palestinians awaiting medical treatment told Reuters they had not yet received notification to prepare for travel.
Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reported that Wednesday’s aid deliveries would include food, medical supplies, fuel, cooking gas and equipment to repair vital infrastructure.
The World Food Programme said its trucks began arriving inside the Gaza Strip on Wednesday for the first time in two days.
“Our trucks crossed into Gaza but it’s still early days in the ceasefire, and the situation remains unpredictable,” WFP spokeswoman Abeer Etefa said.
“We’re hopeful that access will improve in the coming days.”
with AP and EFE
Reuters
