Israel to reopen Gaza's Rafah crossing Wednesday: broadcaster

Israel will allow Gaza’s key Rafah crossing to reopen on Wednesday for humanitarian aid to reach the Palestinian territory, Israeli public broadcaster KAN said.

“Six hundred trucks of humanitarian aid will be dispatched (Wednesday) to the Gaza Strip by the UN, approved international organisations, the private sector and donor countries,” KAN said on its website without citing sources.

The Israeli public broadcaster said the reopening of the southern Rafah crossing, decided by the “political echelon”, follows Hamas handing over the remains of four more hostages late Tuesday, under the ceasefire deal for the Palestinian territory.

Hamas tightened its grip on Gaza’s ruined cities Tuesday, launching a crackdown and executing alleged collaborators, a day after Hamas handed over the bodies of four other captives and released the last 20 surviving hostages.

The group published a video on its official channel showing the street execution of eight blindfolded and kneeling suspects, branding them “collaborators and outlaws”.

The footage, apparently from Monday evening, emerged as armed clashes were underway between Hamas’s security units and armed Palestinian clans in parts of the territory, on the fifth day of a US-brokered truce between Hamas and Israel.

In the north of the territory, as Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza City, the Hamas government’s black-masked armed police have resumed street patrols.

When busloads of prisoners freed from Israeli jails arrived in Gaza on Monday, fighters from Hamas’s Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades provided crowd control.

Meanwhile, a Hamas security unit has been conducting operations against armed clans and gangs, some alleged to have Israeli backing.

“Intense clashes broke out — and are still ongoing at the moment — as part of efforts to eliminate collaborators,” said witness Yahya, who asked not to be named in full.

Explosions and arrests

Another Gaza resident, Mohammed, told AFP: “For long hours this morning there were heavy clashes between Hamas security forces and members of the Hilles family.”

The fighting was in Shujaiya, in the east of Gaza City, close to the so-called Yellow Line, behind which Israeli units still hold roughly half of Gaza.

“We heard intense gunfire and explosions, and the security forces arrested some of them. We support this,” Mohammed said, also asking not to be named in full.

A Palestinian security source in Gaza told AFP that Hamas’s security body, a recently established unit whose name translates as “Deterrence Force”, was conducting “ongoing field operations to ensure security and stability”.

“Our message is clear: There will be no place for outlaws or those who threaten the security of citizens,” he said.

Reassuring presence

For many Palestinians rebuilding their homes and lives, the sight of the militants was reassuring. “After the war ended and the police spread out in the streets, we started to feel safe,” said 34-year-old Abu Fadi Al-Banna, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.

Hamdiya Shammiya, 40, who was driven from her home in northern Gaza by the fighting to seek shelter in the southern city Khan Yunis, agreed. “Thank God the war is finally over. We’ve started to breathe a little,” she said.

While Palestinians sought stability, Israeli families stepped up pressure for the return of the remains of deceased hostages still held in Gaza.