Despite the declared truce, the Israeli regime has refused to reopen the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, keeping humanitarian aid and medical evacuations stalled.
The crossing, long considered Gaza’s critical humanitarian artery, remains under Israeli control.
Israeli forces continue to obstruct efforts to restore normal operations or hand the crossing over to the Palestinian Authority.
Local observers describe this as a calculated political and military tactic by the regime to exert leverage in ceasefire negotiations.
Officials in Gaza say Israel is attempting to link the reopening of Rafah to the handover of bodies of Israeli captives.
The Gaza Government Media Office reported that Israel has committed 47 breaches of the ceasefire since it began, including an airstrike in Gaza City that killed 11 members of a single family.
Fifteen bodies of Palestinians detained by Israel have been returned under the truce deal, bringing the total to 135.
Meanwhile, Hamas’s armed wing says it has recovered two more bodies of Israeli captives and handed them over to Israel through the Red Cross.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that the Rafah crossing would remain closed “until further notice,” accusing Hamas of failing to cooperate in recovering the captives’ remains.
Hamas rejected the charge, accusing Netanyahu of using “flimsy pretexts to disrupt” the ceasefire.
The movement also dismissed claims by the US State Department that it was preparing attacks on civilians.