Israel and Hamas trade blame over truce violations, Rafah border remains shut

Israel said it was preparing for the reopening of Gaza's Rafah crossing with Egypt to let Palestinians in and out, but set no date as it traded blame with Hamas over violations of the ceasefire.

A row over the return of bodies of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza retains the potential to upend the truce along with other major points of the plan yet to be resolved, including disarmament of Hamas and Gaza's future governance.

Israel demanded that Hamas fulfil its obligations in returning the unrecovered bodies of all 28 hostages who died during the war. The group said it had handed over 10 bodies but Israel said one of them was not that of a hostage.

Hamas 'making great efforts'

Hamas, however, has said it has returned all the deceased Israeli captives it was able to recover.

The statement came as two more bodies were handed over to Israel late on Wednesday via the International Committee of the Red Cross.

In a statement, the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said it had fulfilled its commitments under the deal.

"The resistance has adhered to the agreement and handed over all the living captives it held, as well as the bodies it was able to access," the group said.

It added that recovering the remaining bodies "requires significant effort and specialized equipment."

"We are making great efforts to close this file," the statement said.

There is an estimated 55 million tonnes of rubble spread all across Gaza, and more than 10,000 Palestinians are feared missing under it, according to Al Jazeera.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is "determined" to secure the return of the bodies of captives that have yet to be returned.

"The fight is not over yet, but one thing is clear – whoever lays a hand on us knows they will pay a very heavy price. We are determined to win a victory that will shape our surroundings for many years," he said.

'Occupying state undermining agreement'

Meanwhile, the Gaza health ministry said Israel had released 30 bodies of Palestinians killed during the conflict, taking the total of bodies it has received since Monday to 120. Gaza's Health Ministry said some bodies showed clear signs of torture and even possible execution.

A senior Hamas official accused Israel of flouting the ceasefire by having killed at least 24 people in shootings since Friday, and said a list of such violations was handed over to mediators.

"The occupying state is working day and night to undermine the agreement through its violations on the ground," he said.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to these Hamas accusations. It has previously said some Palestinians have ignored warnings not to approach Israeli ceasefire positions and troops "opened fire to remove the threat."

A source in Gaza's ambulance service told Al Jazeera that a person was killed by Israeli army fire in the eastern Bureij refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip.

This comes after sources at Nasser Hospital told reporters that two Palestinians had been killed by Israeli attacks, one in a drone attack today, and another from wounds sustained days ago at the hands of Israeli forces.

Next stage of ceasefire plan

Israel has said the next phase of the 20-point plan to end the war calls for Hamas to relinquish its weapons and cede power, which it has so far refused to do.

Longer-term elements of the ceasefire agreement, including the make-up of an international "stabilization force" for the small, densely populated territory and moves towards creating a Palestinian state – rejected by Israel – have yet to be hashed out.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA) would work with international institutions and partners to address Gaza's security, logistical, financial and governance challenges.

An upcoming conference in Egypt on Gaza's reconstruction would need to clarify how donor funds are organized, who would receive them and how they would be disbursed, he told reporters.

Rafah crossing still not open

Israel's military aid agency the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said coordination was underway with Egypt to decide a date for reopening the Rafah crossing for movement of people after completing the necessary preparations.

COGAT said the Rafah crossing would not open for aid as this was not stipulated by the truce deal at any stage, rather all humanitarian goods bound for Gaza would pass through Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom after undergoing security inspections.

With famine conditions present in parts of Gaza, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher told reporters that thousands of aid vehicles would now have to enter Gaza weekly to ease the crisis.

Aid trucks rolled into Gaza on Wednesday and Israel said 600 had been approved to go in under the truce pact. Fletcher called that a "good base" but nowhere near enough, with medical care also scarce and the majority of the 2.2 million population homeless.

Aid trucks delayed

Al Jazeera media network reported from al-Karara (Kissufim), one of the crossings where food is coming in, that only about 100 trucks had entered since the morning as opposed to at least 600 trucks expected to enter every day.

The drivers of aid trucks confirmed the inspection of their vehicles is taking long and causing delays.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says it has enough food outside the enclave to supply people for three months, and teams are ready to deliver it.

"But despite the ceasefire, the Israeli authorities' block on UNRWA bringing any supplies into Gaza still continues after over seven months," the agency wrote on X.

"Let us get aid into Gaza at the full scale needed, now," it added.

Ismail Al-Thawabta, head of the enclave's media office, said the quantities of aid that had entered Gaza since the fighting subsided were a "drop in the ocean" compared to what is needed.

"The region urgently requires a large, continuous, and organized inflow of aid, fuel, cooking gas, and relief and medical supplies," he said.

Much of the heavily urbanized coastal enclave has been rendered a wasteland by Israeli bombardments and airstrikes that have killed nearly 68,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.