(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Gaza's Rafah crossing with Egypt will probably be reopened on Sunday, Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar was quoted as saying by Italian news agency ANSA yesterday.

“We are making all the necessary preparations,” Sa'ar was quoted as saying at a conference on the Mediterranean region, being held in Naples.

A dispute over the return of hostages' bodies held by Hamas threatens to derail the truce and other unresolved elements of the Sharm El-Sheikh peace plan, including disarmament of fighters and Gaza's future governance.

Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian demanded Hamas return the bodies of the 19 deceased hostages it had not handed over.

The resistance group has handed over 10 bodies and said it has handed over all bodies it could recover.

The armed wing of Hamas said the handover of more bodies in Gaza, reduced to vast tracts of rubble by the war, would require the admission of heavy machinery and excavating equipment into the Israel-blockaded Palestinian enclave.

Yesterday a senior Hamas official accused Israel of flouting the ceasefire by killing at least 24 people in shootings since Friday, and said a list of such violations was handed over to mediators.

“The occupying state is working day and night to undermine the agreement through its violations on the ground,” he said.

Gaza stabilisation force

Meanwhile, France and Britain, in co-ordination with the United States, are working to finalise a UN Security Council resolution in the coming days that would lay the foundation for a future international force in Gaza, France said yesterday.

With a shaky US-mediated ceasefire between Israel and Hamas holding, planning has begun for an international force to stabilise security in the Palestinian enclave, two senior US advisers said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters in Paris, French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux said such a force needed a UN mandate to provide a strong foundation in international law.

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