Israel announced today that an IDF mission deployed to a cemetery outside of Gaza City found and recovered the body of police sergeant Ran Gvili, the last remaining hostage in Gaza taken on Oct. 7, 2023. Less than 24 hours earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announced that Israel would reopen the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt after it completed the mission to recover Gvili’s body, The Times of Israel reported yesterday. The announcement followed a security cabinet meeting on the issue, and with Israel facing significant international pressure to reopen the Rafah Crossing.
After the recovery and return to Israel of Gvili’s remains, Netanyahu sang a different tune before the Knesset today. “The next phase is not reconstruction,” he stressed, speaking at a special Knesset session honoring Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. “The next phase is disarming Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.” Netanyahu said that it is in Israel’s interest “to advance this phase, and not to delay it.”
