Overview
- Israeli authorities said the National Center of Forensic Medicine, working with police and the military rabbinate, formally identified and returned Gvili’s remains for burial.
- The operation followed targeted searches in a northern Gaza cemetery after Hamas’s armed wing said it had given mediators details on the burial site.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the outcome as a national achievement, and the main Israeli hostage families’ group said there are now no hostages left in Gaza.
- Jerusalem announced that Rafah will reopen on a restricted basis for pedestrians only and be subject to comprehensive Israeli inspection procedures.
- Officials cast the return as unlocking the next phase of the U.S.-mediated plan that envisions Hamas disarmament, a gradual Israeli pullback, and an international stabilization force, even as the fragile truce and humanitarian needs remain unresolved.