Israel was expected to allow Gaza's sole border crossing to the outside world to reopen Wednesday to allow aid into the devastated territory as part of a U.S.-backed ceasefire deal.

Israeli public broadcaster KAN said the reopening was imminent despite questions over Hamas's ongoing transfer of the remains of deceased hostages, under a swap deal spearheaded by U.S. President Donald Trump after two years of war.

The bodies of 45 Palestinians that had been in Israeli custody were handed over to a Gaza hospital Tuesday, the Nasser Medical Centre said.

Under a ceasefire deal brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump, Israel was to turn over the bodies of 15 Palestinians for every deceased Israeli returned.

The tenuous ceasefire in the two-year Israel-Hamas war was holding Tuesday even as complex issues remained ahead, a day after widespread jubilation over the return to Israel of the last 20 living hostages held in Gaza and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange.

After the release of the last living hostages and Palestinian prisoners and detainees, the tenuous ceasefire in Gaza was holding Tuesday while questions remain over other key parts of a U.S. plan for the region.

The long list of uncertainties includes when Hamas will return to Israel the bodies of the 24 hostages believed to be dead in Gaza, and Israel's insistence that a weakened Hamas disarm. The future governance of Gaza is unclear.

President Donald Trump is back in Washington after urging leaders across the Mideast to put "old feuds" aside. He met with more than 20 government leaders in Egypt to celebrate a U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and discuss future of the largely destroyed Gaza Strip. His whirlwind trip came at a fragile moment of hope for ending two years of war between Israel and Hamas.

Republican Speaker Mike Johnson predicted the shutdown now entering its 14th day may become the longest in history. He said he "won't negotiate" with Democrats until they pause their health care demands and reopen. He also claimed he's unaware of the details of the firings of thousands of federal workers as the Trump administration seizes on the shutdown to reduce government.

Israel and Hamas moved ahead on a key first step of the tenuous Gaza ceasefire agreement on Monday by freeing hostages and prisoners, raising hopes that the U.S.-brokered deal might lead to a permanent end to the two-year war that ravaged the Palestinian territory.

But thornier issues such as whether Hamas will disarm and who will govern Gaza — and the question of Palestinian statehood — remain unresolved, highlighting the fragility of an agreement that for now only pauses the deadliest conflict in the history of Israel and the Palestinians.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he "will decide what I think is right" on a long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Trump made a brief visit to the Middle East to join regional leaders Monday in signing a declaration meant to cement a ceasefire in Gaza after two years of war.

Several people were killed over the weekend in Gaza City in violent clashes between Hamas security forces and the members of an armed clan, multiple sources reported on Monday.

President Donald Trump told Israeli lawmakers on Monday that their country had no more to achieve on the battlefield and must work toward peace in the Middle East after two years of war against Hamas and skirmishes with Hezbollah and Iran.

Although the U.S.-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas remains fragile, Trump is determined to seize an opportunity to chase an elusive regional harmony.

Under a ceasefire deal many hope will finally turn the page on a two-year war, Israel has been preparing to exchange nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners for the 48 hostages — some alive, some dead — still held in the Gaza Strip.

The releases have powerful resonance on both sides. For Israelis, they're deeply painful, since some of those being release have been convicted over attacks that killed civilians and soldiers. For Palestinians, the issue of prisoners is among the most politically charged, with nearly every Palestinian having a friend or family member who has been jailed by Israel, particularly young men. While Israel views them as terrorists, many Palestinians consider the prisoners as freedom fighters resisting a decades-long Israeli military occupation.