By Amer Solyman and Betul Yilmaz
CAIRO / ISTANBUL (AA) – Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said that efforts are ongoing to return all bodies and remains of the Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip under a ceasefire agreement.
“We are doing our utmost efforts on the ground in order to collect the deceased bodies and to hand them over to the Israeli side in implementation of the agreement of Sharm el-Sheikh, phase one,” the minister said in an interview with CNN.
Abdelatty noted that Egypt has informed the American side and is informing the Israeli side in daily contacts that “collecting the remains will take some time” due to the difficulties in the recovery of the bodies under the rubble.
Regarding the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, Abdelatty said Cairo is conducting discussions with Israel for the opening of the border “literally to flood Gaza with food and relief materials,” as the situation in the enclave has reached “catastrophic” levels.
“It’s open from the Egyptian side 24/7,” he added.
The border crossing remained closed on Thursday from the Palestinian side despite a scheduled reopening on Wednesday under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.
Since May 2024, the Israeli army has blocked the movement of Palestinians through the Rafah border crossing, the territory’s only window to the outside world that was not controlled by Tel Aviv before the start of the Israeli war in October 2023.
According to Israeli media, Tel Aviv refuses to reopen the crossing until it receives the remains of all Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Hamas has already released 20 living Israeli hostages and handed over the remains of 10 more captives in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners under the ceasefire deal. The group said on Wednesday that it is exerting “great effort” to locate the remains of other captives.
The top diplomat said Egypt, in cooperation with Jordan, is working to provide training for nearly 5,000 Palestinian policemen to be deployed in the Gaza Strip. The number can reach 10,000 policemen on the ground with the inclusion of 5,000 others from Gaza, “who will be entrusted with the issues related to law enforcement and policing Gaza.”
Abdelatty expressed hope that the implementation of the ceasefire agreement will lead to a two-state solution “that will put an end to the suffering of the Palestinians and bring an end to this chapter of conflict of problems.”
The minister said that Egypt will host an international conference for the reconstruction of Gaza in November. He called on the international community to provide political and financial support for the reconstruction effort and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza via UN mechanisms.
According to the UN, the reconstruction of the war-torn Gaza Strip would cost nearly $70 billion.
The ceasefire agreement was reached between Israel and Hamas last week, based on a plan presented by US President Donald Trump. Phase one included the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The plan also envisages the rebuilding of Gaza and the establishment of a new governing mechanism without Hamas.
Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed nearly 68,000 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, and rendered it largely uninhabitable.