Israel to reopen Rafah crossing after search for last hostage body ends

Israel will reopen Gaza's Rafah crossing with Egypt for the passage of people only after an operation to locate the body of the last remaining ⁠Israeli hostage in the enclave is completed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said late on Sunday (Jan 25). However, Israel conditioned the reopening on the ‍return of all living hostages ⁠held ‍by Palestinian militant factions in Gaza, as well as a "100 per cent effort" by Hamas to locate and return the bodies of all deceased hostages. The Israeli military "is currently conducting a focused operation to exhaust all of the intelligence that has been gathered in the effort to locate and return the fallen hostage, Master Sgt.