Israel is reopening Gaza’s Rafah crossing for pedestrians after efforts to find the remains of the last Israeli hostage ended, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

The office said the Israel Defence Forces were currently conducting a search for the remains of Ran Gvili.

“Upon completion of this operation, and in accordance with what has been agreed upon with the U.S., Israel will open the Rafah Crossing,” Mr Netanyahu’s office said on X.

Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli troops were conducting search operations in the Al-Saitun district of Gaza City.

Tracer ammunition had been fired, and military vehicles had been seen driving around.

Israeli sources said that the search area extended to a cemetery near the so-called Yellow Line.

This line divides the Gaza Strip into a part controlled by the Israeli military and a part free of Israeli military presence.

A spokesman for the Kassam Brigades, the military wing of militant Palestinian Hamas, had announced that Hamas had provided the mediators in the Gaza peace process with all the information necessary to locate the body.

The Israeli armed forces are now searching locations mentioned in this information, according to Kassam spokesman Abu Obeida.

Ran Gvili, a 24-year-old border officer, was killed during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, which triggered the Gaza war. Israel has made the repatriation of Mr Gvili’s body a condition for entering the second phase of the peace deal mediated by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Mr Netanyahu’s office said the reopening of the crossing was “conditioned upon the return of all living hostages and a 100 per cent effort by Hamas to locate and return all deceased hostages”.

It added that “limited reopening will be subjected to a full Israeli inspection mechanism”.

The crossing near the southern city of Rafah, which links Gaza to Egypt, has been closed for nearly a year.

Israel continued to restrict access to the war-torn coastal strip in spite of a ceasefire in place since 2025.

(dpa/NAN)