U.N. and aid groups push for phase-two of Israel-Hamas peace plan, opening of vital Rafah crossing
After Israel brought home the remains of its last hostage from Gaza on Monday, attention turned to the next and more challenging phase of its U.S.-brokered peace plan with Hamas, which should include the reopening of Gaza's border crossing with Egypt and the deployment of an international security force to secure the Palestinian enclave.
The remains of Israeli police officer Ran Gvili, who was killed during the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, were found in a cemetery in northern Gaza, Israeli officials confirmed Monday.
"You should see the honor you're receiving here," Gvili's father, Itzik, said Tuesday, kissing his son's coffin, which was draped in an Israeli flag. "The entire police is here with you, the entire army is with you, the entire people. I'm proud of you."
What comes next?
Netanyahu's office said in a statement Sunday that a "limited reopening" of the Rafah crossing was "conditioned upon the return of all living hostages and a 100% effort by Hamas to locate and return all deceased hostages."
The return of all remaining hostages, living and dead, had been a key term of the U.S.-brokered Gaza peace plan's first phase. With the Israeli military confirming that "all of the abductees have been returned" on Monday, Hamas said it had met those terms.
Following the recovery of Gvili's body, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem issued a statement confirming the group's "commitment to all the terms of the agreement to halt the war on the Gaza Strip, including the exchange track and its full completion in accordance with the agreement."
He said Hamas would "continue to adhere to all aspects of the agreement, including facilitating the work of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza and ensuring its success."
Qassem called on all mediators of the ceasefire, and the U.S. in particular, to compel Israel "to stop its violations of the agreement and to implement the obligations required of it."
The most immediately anticipated next step would be the opening of the Rafah crossing between southern Gaza and Egypt.
An official with the United Nation's children's agency said Monday that there was a backlog of supplies in Egypt ready to move into Gaza whenever the crossing opens to aid traffic.
"We have supplies positioned," said Ted Chaiban, UNICEF's deputy executive director. "We have our great staff doing good work on the ground. We have plans that can be activated immediately if access is granted."
The next phase needs to include bringing not only more humanitarian and commercial supplies but also permanent shelter materials and items to repair infrastructure, he added.
On Monday, the spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said "the full implementation of the ceasefire arrangements in Gaza is absolutely critical."
"The Secretary-General urges all parties to move forward in good faith, and without delay with subsequent phases, facilitate sustained and unhindered humanitarian access, including through the Rafah Crossing."
Palestinians see the crossing, which has been largely shut since May 2024, as a lifeline to the outside world. Some are optimistic that opening the Rafah crossing will allow travel to and from the enclave, along with the evacuation of people needing medical care.
"We hope this will close off Israel's pretexts and open the crossing," Abdel-Rahman Radwan, a Gaza City resident whose mother has cancer and requires treatment outside Gaza, told the AP.
Ahmed Ruqab, a father who lives with his family of six in a tent in the Nuseirat refugee camp, called for mediators and the U.S. to pressure Israel to allow more aid.
"We need to turn this page and restart," he said over the phone.
As well as the border opening, the ceasefire's second phase also calls for the deployment an international security force, for Hamas to disarm, for Israeli soldiers to pull further back and for efforts to rebuild Gaza.
Speaking to the Israeli parliament on Monday, however, Netanyahu said: "The next phase is disarming Hamas and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip. The next phase is not reconstruction."
Hamas under pressure to disarm
Speaking Monday, U.S. officials, who insisted on anonymity per the rules of a call set up by the White House, said they expect Israel to help both sides move forward into the second phase of the peace plan, and they want Hamas — a U.S.- and Israeli designated terrorist group that has ruled over Gaza for two decades —to disarm in accordance with the agreement, and they believe that it will.
"We are listening to many of their people talk about disarming. We think they're going to," said one of the U.S. officials on the call, according to the Reuters news agency. "If they don't disarm, then they've breached the deal. We think disarmament comes along with some sort of amnesty and, candidly, we think we have a very, very good program to disarm."
Hamas "signed an agreement — they don't have a choice, and so that's what we are going to work on to make happen," a second official said, according to Politico, adding: "If they decide to play games, then obviously President Trump will take other actions."
President Trump's 20-point Gaza plan stipulates that once all hostages are returned, Hamas members who "commit to peaceful co-existence and decommission their weapons will be given amnesty," and those "who wish to leave Gaza will be provided safe passage to receiving countries."
The Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel that sparked the war killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Gaza's Hamas-run Ministry of Health says more than 71,000 Palestinians were killed in the territory during the war.
Palestinians in Gaza who spoke with the AP in recent weeks questioned whether the ceasefire's next steps will improve conditions, pointing to ongoing bloodshed and ongoing challenges in securing basic necessities.
The Foreign Press Association of Israel on Monday asked the country's Supreme Court to allow journalists to enter Gaza freely and independently.
The FPA represents dozens of global news organizations and has been pushing for independent media access to Gaza throughout the war. Israel has barred reporters from entering Gaza independently since the 2023 attack by Hamas, arguing that entry could put journalists and soldiers at risk.
FPA lawyers told the court that the restrictions are not justified and that with aid workers moving in and out of Gaza, journalists should be allowed in. They said tightly controlled visits under strict military supervision are no substitute for independent access. The judges are expected to rule soon.