The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said on Thursday that preparations are ongoing with Egypt to open the major Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip for the movement of people.
The date that the crossing will be opened will be announced at a later stage, COGAT added.
Israel had earlier warned it could keep Rafah shut and reduce aid into the strip as Hamas, it said, was returning the bodies of dead hostages too slowly, underlining the risks to a ceasefire that halted two years of devastating war and saw all living hostages held by Hamas released.
COGAT said humanitarian aid continued to enter the territory via the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, as well as at other crossings.
"It should be emphasized that humanitarian aid will not pass through the Rafah crossing. This was never agreed upon at any stage," COGAT added in a statement sent to Reuters.
Two sources had told Reuters on Wednesday that the Rafah crossing was expected to open for people on Thursday.
The government decided to reopen the Rafah Border Crossing in southern Gaza on Wednesday morning, following Hamas's release of the remains of four hostages on Tuesday night.
While the crossing was opened for people, humanitarian aid, which is entering at normal levels, is being sent into Gaza through other crossings
The initial decision to close the crossing came as a punitive response to Hamas not upholding its side of the ceasefire and hostage deal by returning the remains of the hostages still in Gaza.
Israel tells UN will only allow half agreed number of aid trucks into Gaza
Israel has told the United Nations it will only allow 300 aid trucks, half of the originally agreed-upon number, into the Gaza Strip from Wednesday and that no fuel or gas will be allowed into the enclave except for specific needs related to humanitarian infrastructure, according to a note seen by Reuters and confirmed by the UN.
Olga Cherevko, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza, confirmed the UN had received the note from COGAT, the arm of the Israeli military that oversees aid flows into Gaza.
The COGAT note said the restrictions were being taken because Hamas violated the agreement regarding the release of the bodies of the hostages.
Amichai Stein and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.