Sri Lanka, Jan. 26 -- Israel says it has agreed to reopen the Gaza Strip's key border crossing with Egypt only after an operation to retrieve the body of the last remaining Israeli hostage in the territory is complete.

The Rafah crossing has been mostly closed since May 2024, when the Palestinian side was seized by Israeli forces. It was meant to have reopened during the first stage of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which began in October.

However, the Israeli government has made that conditional on Hamas making every effort to return the body of the last hostage, police officer Master Sgt Ran Gvili.

On Sunday, Israel's military said it had begun a new search for his remains in northern Gaza.

Although in its latest announceme...