Border crossing to stay closed until Hamas honors deal, Israel says

Israel said Saturday evening that Gaza’s Rafah Crossing with Egypt would remain closed until Hamas “fulfills” its part in the Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal, rejecting a statement by the Palestinian Embassy in Egypt that the crossing would reopen on Monday.The reopening of the crossing, which has been largely closed since Israeli forces entered Rafah in May 2024, would allow Palestinians residing in Egypt to return to Gaza, the embassy said in a statement. The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly denied that the crossing would reopen on Monday, stating that it would remain closed due to what it said was Hamas’s failure to live up to the terms of the ceasefire deal.
Netanyahu’s government and Hamas have been trading blame over violations of the U.S.-mediated ceasefire for days. Late Saturday in Washington, the State Department said it had received “credible reports indicating an imminent ceasefire violation by Hamas against the people of Gaza.” The State Department said the planned attack against Palestinian civilians would be a “direct and grave violation of the ceasefire agreement.”  “Should Hamas proceed with this attack, measures will be taken to protect the people of Gaza and preserve the integrity of the ceasefire,” the department said in a statement, without providing further details.
Trump had said he would consider allowing Israeli forces to resume fighting in Gaza if Hamas fails to uphold its end of the ceasefire deal that he brokered. Hamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The militant group has launched a security crackdown in urban areas vacated by Israeli forces, demonstrating its power through public executions and clashes with local armed clans.
Hamas, in a statement late on Saturday, said Netanyahu’s decision “constitutes a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement and a repudiation of the commitments he made to the mediators and guarantor parties.” It also said the continued closure of the Rafah crossing would prevent the entry of equipment needed to search for and locate more hostage bodies under the rubble, and would thus delay the recovery and handover of the remains.
Around 560 metric tons of food had entered Gaza per day on average since the U.S.-brokered truce, but this was still well below the scale of need, according to the U.N. World Food Programme. Formidable obstacles to Trump’s plan to end the war still remain. Key questions of Hamas disarming and how Gaza will be governed, the make-up of an international “stabilization force” and moves towards the creation of a Palestinian state have yet to be resolved.