Breaking news: Israel opens Rafah border crossing

According to Israeli state television, KAN, the Israeli government has decided to lift sanctions it announced today against Hamas. Israeli political leaders have decided to reopen Gaza 's border crossing with Egypt, Rafah, as planned, and to allow humanitarian aid to continue in accordance with the agreement.

It was shared that Israel's decision was influenced by Hamas's delivery of four more bodies of dead Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip during the night and its planned delivery of some more bodies today.

ISRAEL ANNOUNCED IT WOULD NOT OPEN THE REFAH BORDER CROSSING ON WEDNESDAY

Despite the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, Israel announced on Wednesday that it would not open the Rafah Border Crossing , which provides passage to the Gaza Strip via Egypt.

Israel cited the delay in returning the bodies of all dead Israeli prisoners held by Hamas as an excuse for not opening the Rafah Border Crossing.

Hamas handed over the bodies of four more Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip to the Red Cross overnight as part of a prisoner swap. Thus, Hamas has handed over the bodies of eight of the 28 dead prisoners in Gaza as part of the ceasefire and prisoner swap agreement.

The ceasefire agreement between the parties acknowledged that it would be difficult for Hamas to locate all the bodies due to Israel's two-year, genocidal attacks on Gaza and the Israeli army's ongoing occupation of parts of Gaza.

For this reason, it was decided to form a committee with representatives from Türkiye, Qatar, Egypt and the United States to ensure the discovery of the bodies of the dead Israeli prisoners in Gaza.