Israel on Wednesday said it will start letting Palestinians leave Gaza through a reopened border crossing, complying with a U.S.-backed ceasefire deal even though it also said that partial remains returned by militants did not match the hostages still in Gaza.

Israel has announced plans to reopen the Rafah border crossing in the coming days, allowing Palestinians to leave Gaza

Gaza's main gateway will open in the next few days, Israel said on Wednesday, allowing thousands of Palestinians who are in need of medical care to leave the war-ravaged enclave through Egypt.

Israel says it launched an airstrike in southern Gaza in retaliation for an attack by militants earlier in the day that wounded five Israeli soldiers. Israel also has received remains

Hamas said it would hand over a hostage body on Wednesday, after Israeli forensic services concluded that remains returned a day earlier were not from one of two final deceased hostages.

Israel says that partial remains returned from Gaza earlier this week do not match either of the hostages taken during Hamas’ 2023 attack who remain in Gaza. The remains handed