Netanyahu: Limited Opening of Rafah Crossing Under Israeli Supervision

SadaNews - The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced today, Monday, the approval for the limited opening of the Rafah crossing in southern Gaza "for the passage of individuals only within a comprehensive Israeli supervision mechanism". It is expected that the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nikolay Mladenov, will arrive in Israel today to discuss the opening of the crossing.

Netanyahu's office added in a statement that "the opening of the crossing is conditional upon the return of all living and deceased hostages and Hamas making every effort to return them". According to the same statement, the Rafah crossing will be opened as soon as the search for the body of prisoner Corporal Rani Gouili is completed and it is returned in accordance with the agreement with Washington.

Channel 12 reported that an American official stated that the Rafah crossing is expected to open by the end of this week.

Netanyahu's office indicated earlier on Sunday that search operations for Gouili's body are currently focused in a cemetery in northern Gaza and are being conducted using all available intelligence information from the security agencies.

The Israeli military spokesperson announced that the Southern Command of the army has begun a concentrated operation in the "yellow line" area of northern Gaza, aimed at recovering Gouili's body.

The Israeli security cabinet (the cabinet) held a meeting on Sunday evening to discuss the implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza and the opening of the Rafah crossing.

This cabinet meeting followed a meeting between Netanyahu, Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, the U.S. president's envoys, which addressed the opening of the Rafah crossing, the recovery of the Israeli soldier's body, and the disarmament of Hamas.

Axios reported that it is expected that Nikolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, will arrive in Israel today, Monday, to discuss the opening of the crossing and the transition to the second phase of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza.