Israel’s forces also took over some ground in Rafah, a southern city by the Egyptian border that is packed with displaced people and where the launch this month of a long-threatened incursion to crush hold-outs of Palestinian militant group Hamas has alarmed Cairo and Washington.
Exposing further cracks in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, Benny Gantz, a centrist member of the war cabinet, threatened to resign if the right-wing leader does not agree by Jun 8 to a day-after plan that would include how Gaza might be ruled after the war with Hamas.
In what Israeli media said was the result of intelligence gleaned during the latest incursions, the military announced the recovery of the body of a man who was among more than 250 hostages seized by Hamas in a cross-border rampage on Oct 7 that triggered the war.
Ron Binyamin’s remains were located along with those of three other slain hostages whose repatriation was announced on Friday, the military said without providing further details.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas.
