Israel recovers last hostage remains; Rafah crossing may reopen (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Let's update you on that breaking news from the Middle East. In the past hour, the Israeli military saying it's recovered the remains of police officer Ran Gevilli, the last hostage held in Gaza. The return of all hostages, to remind you, was a condition of the ceasefire deal with Hamas. Israel has said it will reopen the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, but said they would only do this once they had found the remains of Ran Gevilli. Let's take you to Jerusalem and join our correspondent there, Dan Johnson. So two issues, firstly, Dan, on that search for the remains of Ran Gevilli, what is the IDF saying about that? And then have they given any kind of time frame for the opening of the border crossing?

[00:00:43] Speaker 2: Yeah, I think these two issues are probably linked and one had been holding up the other. Ran Gevilli's body was the last remaining hostage body in Gaza. There wasn't really ever a clear explanation of why his body had not been returned at the end of last year when the other remaining hostage bodies were released by Hamas. The situation seemed to be that nobody was able to find his body. So this is a hugely significant moment, firstly, for Ran Gevilli's family, who have been holding out some hope that he may be returned alive. It didn't look like that was going to be possible. They've staged sit-ins every week waiting for the return of his body. He was only 24 years old, a policeman who was a member of an elite unit and was killed defending a kibbutz on the October 7th when those attacks happened. So let's bear a thought for his family, who now know that his body is heading back and can be buried. But this is also significant for Israel and for all those hostage families. And I think there will be celebration now, even though this is a body returning, that at least all the hostages have been returned from Gaza. The Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said this is an extraordinary achievement for Israel. He said, we promised and I promised to bring everyone back and we have brought everyone back, he says, to the very last one. So I think this will be a significant moment for all Israelis who have been waiting for the return of hostages. But it does have a wider significance. Israel had been delaying, perhaps, reopening the Rafah crossing, saying that it couldn't move to the next stage of the ceasefire, while there were outstanding issues, such as the location of Ryan Gavilly's body. It's been a huge operation over the weekend. Not clear exactly what led to the bit of intelligence that enabled the Israel Defense Forces to finally find and identify his body. They said existing intelligence became clearer over the weekend. We know it's been a huge operation, that they had been determined to do whatever they needed to do to find and identify his remains. They have now been able to do that and that body is on its way back to Israel. A significant moment for people here and for his family. But it also opens up now the possibility of moving to the second stage of the ceasefire in Gaza, albeit that is fraught with further complications.

[00:02:57] Speaker 1: And specifically, Dan, on the Rafah crossing, any indications of when it will be open? Will it be open in both directions and just people who can cross or goods as well?

[00:03:09] Speaker 2: Yeah, there are talks of a limited reopening being possible now, perhaps later this week. We know Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were in Jerusalem. They visited Israel over the weekend to facilitate some of the discussions about the logistics of reopening the Rafah crossing with Egypt. This will be primarily for people, Palestinians, to move back and forth because the other border crossings between Gaza and Israel that were opened as part of the initial ceasefire deal, that was just for aid to cross. So this facilitates the movement of people who either want to leave Gaza to go and get medical attention or to see family in other parts of the world, people who have been forced to flee, or it allows Palestinians who may want to return to Gaza. And we understand that around 30,000 have actually signed up with the Palestinian Bureau in Cairo, signaling that they actually want to come back to Gaza and be reunited with their families. Obviously, how many people are going to be allowed to move in which direction each day, that sort of detail is still up in the air. We await those sorts of details later this week. Israel is saying, though, that it will try and get a limited reopening later this week.