Netanyahu agreed to the limited reopening of the Rafah crossing – Mehr news agency RCO News Agency

According to the Mehr News Agency, quoted by Al Jazeera, this announcement of the opening is made by the Prime Minister’s Office of the Zionist regime, as Nikolai Mladinov, the senior representative of the Peace Council in Gaza, is expected to enter the occupied territories today to discuss the reopening of this crossing.

In a statement, Netanyahu’s office added that “the condition for the opening of the Rafah crossing was the return of all prisoners, both alive and dead, and Hamas’s maximum effort to return them.”

According to the same statement, the reopening of the Rafah crossing will be done immediately after the completion of the search operation to find the body of the captured soldier, Rani Guili, and return it according to the agreement with Washington.

Channel 12 of the Israeli regime reported, quoting an American official, that the Rafah crossing is expected to be opened by the end of this week.

Yesterday, Netanyahu’s office indicated that the search operation for Goili’s body is currently focused on one of the cemeteries in northern Gaza and is being carried out using all intelligence reports available to the security agencies.

The military spokesman of the Israeli regime also announced that the southern command of the army of this regime has started a concentrated operation in the “yellow line” area in the north of the Gaza Strip, the aim of which is to recover the body of Gueli.

Meanwhile, the security cabinet (small cabinet) of the Israeli regime held a meeting yesterday evening to discuss the implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza and the reopening of the Rafah crossing.

Netanyahu’s meeting with Trump’s representatives

This cabinet meeting was held after a meeting in which Netanyahu met with Steven Witkov and Jared Kushner, representatives of the US president. In this meeting, they discussed the reopening of the Rafah crossing, the recovery of the Israeli soldier’s body, and the disarmament of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

Israeli media reported yesterday that Vitkov and Kushner, during talks in the occupied city of Jerusalem, asked Netanyahu to reopen the Rafah crossing that connects Gaza to Egypt.

On the other hand, Abu Obeidah, the spokesman of the Qassam Battalions (the military branch of the Islamic Resistance Movement of Hamas), said that the Qassam Battalions dealt with the case of prisoners and bodies with transparency and did what was asked of them according to the ceasefire agreement.

He added that the Qassam battalions handed over all the living people and bodies in their possession without any delay, even though the occupying regime did not adhere to its commitments and committed ceasefire violations and killings.

The Axios website reported that Nikolai Mladinov, the senior representative of the Peace Council in Gaza, is expected to arrive in Israel today to negotiate the reopening of the Rafah crossing and the transition to the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

Palestinian-Egyptian meeting

In this regard, Turkey’s Anatolia news agency reported that Hossein al-Sheikh, the deputy head of the Palestinian Authority, discussed with Ehab Suleiman, Egypt’s ambassador to Palestine, the joint coordination of the Rafah crossing and Egypt’s role in the implementation of US President Donald Trump’s plan regarding Gaza in the city of Ramallah yesterday.

Ali Shaath, the head of the National Management Committee of the Gaza Strip, announced last Thursday that the Rafah crossing will be opened in both directions next week, but did not explain the exact mechanism.

In May 2024, the Israeli occupying army dominated the Rafah crossing during its year-long invasion of the Gaza Strip. During its ground operations against Rafah city, the occupying army targeted this crossing and since then this crossing has been closed and its buildings have been destroyed.

On January 4, the Israeli newspaper “Haaretz” reported that the Palestinian Authority will take over the management of the Palestinian section of the Rafah crossing with the help of forces from the European Union.