Israel identifies body of hostage as military attacks Rafah

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel identified the body of a deceased hostage on Sunday morning, after Hamas handed over two bodies of what the militant group said were deceased hostages to the Red Cross on Saturday night.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the body was identified as Ronen Engel. The second body was still undergoing identification at Israel's National Center of Forensic Medicine.

The move comes as Israel threatened to keep the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt closed "until further notice". The statement by Netanyahu's office said that reopening Rafah would depend on how Hamas fulfills its ceasefire role of returning the remains of all 28 deceased hostages.

Hamas has handed over the remains of 11 identified hostages. Israel has returned the bodies of 135 Palestinians to Gaza.

The handover of remains is among key points — along with aid deliveries into Gaza and the devastated territory's future — in the ceasefire process meant to end two years of war.

The Rafah crossing is the only one that Israel did not control before the conflict. It has been closed since May last year, when Israel took control of the Gaza side.

On Sunday, the Israeli military said it launched airstrikes and artillery fire at targets in southern Gaza.

It said the strikes targeted militants in the Rafah area who had opened fire on its soldiers. The attacks destroyed tunnels and military buildings, it added.

Hamas' armed wing said it remained committed to the ceasefire agreement in all of Gaza, adding that it was unaware of clashes in Rafah and that it has not been in contact with groups there since March.

Agencies via Xinhua