paving the way for the next phase of US President Donald Trump's peace plan to get under way. It had been searching for Master Sgt Ran Gvili since the ceasefire with Hamas began in October. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Gvili's return "an extraordinary achievement". The Israeli military began a new operation to find Gvili on Sunday. Earlier, Hamas's armed wing said it had provided mediators with "all the details and information" about Gvili's location. Netanyahu's office said Israel would reopen Gaza's key border crossing with Egypt once the operation to find and return Gvili was complete.

Netanyahu hailed the return of Gvili's body, saying: "We promised - and I promised - to bring everyone back. We brought them all back, down to the very last captive," he said. The Israeli military said the clarification of existing intelligence over the weekend had enabled the search of a cemetery near Gaza City. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the discovery of the body "confirms Hamas's commitment to all the requirements of the ceasefire agreement". The retrieval of Gvili adds fresh impetus to Trump's plan to end the war in Gaza. Israel had resisted moving forward until Gvili was found. Phase two is meant to involve the reconstruction and full demilitarisation of Gaza, including the disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian groups. The plan is also meant to see the deployment of an as-yet unconstituted International Stabilization Force (ISF) and the progressive withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. (BBC)