Israel's military says its troops are searching for the remains of Ran Gvili, reportedly at a cemetery in northern Gaza.
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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.
Israeli media quoted military officials as saying the operation was taking place at a cemetery in Gaza City and that it could last several days.
It comes as US and other mediators continue to press both sides to take the next steps to advance President Donald Trump's peace plan.
On Sunday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced that Israel had "agreed to a limited reopening of the Rafah crossing for pedestrian passage only, subject to a full Israeli inspection mechanism".
The Israeli military was "currently conducting a focused operation to exhaust all of the intelligence that has been gathered in the effort to locate and return" the remains of Ran Gvili, a statement said.
"Upon completion of this operation, and in accordance with what has been agreed upon with the US, Israel will open the Rafah crossing," it added.
Earlier, the Israeli military said troops had "begun a targeted operation in the area of the Yellow Line in the northern Gaza Strip" to retrieve Gvili's body. The Yellow Line demarcates the territory still controlled by Israeli forces under the ceasefire deal.
Israeli military officials told local media that the operation was acting on intelligence collected over a long period of time, which indicated that Gvili's rem
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