The bittersweet news that Israelis have been waiting for finally came on Monday.

The body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last slain hostage held in Gaza, was found by the IDF and returned to Israel for a proper burial.

Gvili’s return is a cathartic moment for Israel, as there are now no living or dead Israeli hostages in Gaza for the first time since 2014.

It is also an important one for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as he had been pushed in recent days into allowing the re-opening of the Rafah Crossing before Gvili’s body had been found.

It doesn’t mean Netanyahu is out of the weeds, however.

Over the past few days, Israel’s control over the future of the Gaza Strip seems to have slipped drastically.

But Israel still retains control of key facets of the Strip, and maintains a potential pathway to continuing to assert itself in the future of the enclave, via US President Donald Trump.

It may still hope to arrest the accelerating rush toward phase two of the Gaza ceasefire agreement and the start of reconstruction under the aegis of those it does not trust, though doing so will likely necessitate convincing the US leader.

In Davos on Thursday, Trump rolled out his Board of Peace, as a medley of world leaders and senior officials sat in two rows listening politely to the US president’s speech.

Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed Al Thani was on stage, as was Turkey’s powerful Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. There was, quite notably, no Israeli presence, though Netanyahu said he would join the body.

Even if he or President Isaac Herzog had taken the stage (Netanyahu reportedly blocked the president’s participation), Israel is just one player among many holding the power to decide what happens next in Gaza — including hostile actors such as Turkey and double-dealing ones like Qatar.

Ali Shaath, the chief commissioner of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, joined the Davos proceedings by video and announced that the Rafah border crossing between the Strip and Egypt would open this week in both directions.

Israel had been insisting that the crossing would remain closed until the body of Gvili was returned to Israel, which was far from a certain outcome when the announcement was made.

But with the White House and the mediating countries pressing Israel — including

© The Times of Israel