This came during a telephone call between Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel-Aty and Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, according to a statement from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.
According to the statement, "The two ministers exchanged views on developments in the Gaza Strip, and the ongoing efforts to advance the implementation of the requirements of the second phase of the US President's plan, especially with regard to Israeli withdrawals from Gaza."
Abdel-Aati stressed "the importance of announcing the formation of a temporary Palestinian technocratic committee to manage the affairs of the sector, in parallel with the formation of the international stabilization force," stressing the importance of ensuring the access of humanitarian aid to create the climate for early recovery.
He affirmed "Egypt's complete rejection of any practices that undermine the geographical unity of the Palestinian territories, or affect the organic link between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip," stressing "Egypt's categorical rejection of partition, whether through imposing facts on the ground in the West Bank or attempts to divide Gaza."
"Political blackmail"
For his part, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majid Al-Ansari revealed on Tuesday that contacts were underway with partners to open the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, stressing the rejection of Israeli political blackmail.
Al-Ansari said at a press conference in Doha: "Regarding the second phase (of the Gaza ceasefire agreement), Qatar has been working tirelessly with Egypt, Turkey, and the United States since the first day of the agreement to reach it." He added: "There are ongoing contacts and discussions about this, but there are many obstacles."
"The prisoner, Wan Guili"
Earlier on Tuesday, Netanyahu insisted on his intransigence regarding his refusal to open the Rafah crossing until the body of the last Israeli captive in the Gaza Strip, Ran Goili, is returned, according to the Hebrew Broadcasting Authority.
The commission added that Netanyahu, during his assessment of the security situation after returning from the United States, informed officials of his refusal, and confirmed the existence of agreements with the American administration stipulating that the Rafah crossing would not be opened until the body of prisoner Ghwaili was returned from Gaza, and considered the crossing to be "one of the most important remaining pressure cards" for Israel.
Netanyahu also announced that Israel intends to set a deadline for Hamas regarding the issue of disarmament, according to the same source.
On Sunday, the Hebrew newspaper Haaretz reported that Israel had completed preparations to open the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, south of the Gaza Strip, in both directions "soon".
Israel has completely closed this crossing since May 2024, after taking control of it during a large-scale ground operation in the city of Rafah. Since the start of its war of extermination in October 2023, the crossing had been partially open for the travel of specific cases with UN and international coordination.
On December 31, the Hebrew Broadcasting Authority claimed that Israel was preparing to open the Rafah border crossing following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's return from the United States.
Hamas released all the living Israeli prisoners it held during the ceasefire agreement that went into effect on October 10, in addition to handing over the bodies of the prisoners who died in its custody, with the exception of one prisoner it said it was still searching for amid the widespread destruction.
In contrast, Israel continues to insist that moving to the second phase of the prisoner exchange agreement and ending the war in Gaza is linked to the recovery of the body of the last prisoner.
Ran Goili is the latest Israeli prisoner whose body Palestinian factions in Gaza are searching for.
At the beginning of last December, Channel 12 quoted an unnamed Israeli official as saying that the search for the body of soldier Gweili had been renewed in the Zeitoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, noting that there was "optimism" that a result could be reached soon.
On October 7, 2023, Palestinian factions, led by Hamas, attacked military bases and settlements along the Gaza Strip, killing and capturing Israelis in response to "the daily crimes of the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people and their holy sites, especially the Al-Aqsa Mosque," according to the factions.
Following the attack, Israel launched a genocide in Gaza, unleashing its fury on the Palestinians in the Strip, killing more than 71,000 of them and injuring more than 171,000 others, most of them children and women.
