The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will remain closed until further notice, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday, adding that its reopening will depend on Hamas handing over the bodies of deceased hostages.

Netanyahu's statement came shortly after the Palestinian embassy in Egypt announced that the Rafah crossing, the main gateway for Gazans to leave and enter the enclave, would reopen on Monday for entry into Gaza. Rafah has largely been shut since May 2024.

Hamas said in a statement late on Saturday that 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.

Israel said it received two more hostage bodies late Saturday, meaning 12 out of 28 bodies have been handed over to Israel under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire and hostage deal agreed between Israel and Hamas last week.

Israel: Hamas is too slow to return the bodies

The dispute over the return of bodies underlines the fragility of the ceasefire and still has the potential to upset the deal, along with other major issues that are included in U.S. President Donald Trump's 20-point plan to end the conflict.

As part of the deal, Hamas released all 20 of the living Israeli hostages it had been holding for two years in return for almost 2,000 Palestinian detainees and convicted prisoners jailed in Israel.

The deal also requires Israel to return 360 bodies of Palestinian militants for the deceased Israeli hostages, and so far, it has handed over 15 bodies in return for each Israeli body it has received.

But Israel said that Hamas had been too slow to hand over the bodies of the deceased hostages it still holds.

The militant group said that locating some of the bodies amid the vast destruction in Gaza would take time. It also stated that the Israeli military was "manipulating" the issue of handing over the bodies of deceased Palestinians, as the names of those returned by Israel did not match the names that were requested.

Obstacles to Gaza's reconstruction

The ceasefire deal also includes the ramping up of aid into the enclave, where hundreds of thousands of people were determined in August to be affected by famine, according to the IPC global hunger monitor.

After cutting off all supplies for 11 weeks in March, Israel increased aid to Gaza in July, scaling it up further since the ceasefire. 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 UN World Food Programme.

Formidable obstacles to Trump's plan to end the conflict remain. Key questions surrounding Hamas disarmament and how Gaza will be governed, the make-up of an international "stabilization force," and moves toward the creation of a Palestinian state have yet to be resolved.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qasim said on Saturday that Hamas does not want to take part in any administrative arrangements related to the governance of the Gaza Strip after the ceasefire. 

He added that Gaza's reconstruction was meant to begin immediately after the completion of the first-phase agreement, but said the ongoing delays were deliberate and carefully orchestrated by the Israeli side. The spokesperson noted that discussions are currently underway with mediators to determine the framework for entering the second phase of negotiations.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu announced on Saturday that he will run for office again in the 2026 parliamentary elections during an interview with Israel's Channel 14.  When asked whether he expects to win, Netanyahu said, "Yes."

(With input from agencies)