Europe Crossing into Gaza: EU launches deployment of border guards

SDA

31.1.2025 - 13:01

ARCHIVE - Trucks carrying humanitarian aid from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) enter the Gaza Strip at the Kerem Shalom crossing from Egypt, a few days after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into force. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
ARCHIVE - Trucks carrying humanitarian aid from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) enter the Gaza Strip at the Kerem Shalom crossing from Egypt, a few days after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into force. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
Keystone

The EU has launched its support mission to reopen the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.

Keystone-SDA

At the request of the Palestinians and Israelis, EU border guards have been on the ground since Friday, announced EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas. They would support the Palestinian border personnel and enable people to leave Gaza, including those in need of medical care.

The EU Border Assistance Mission in Rafah (Eubam Rafah) was established in 2005 to help control the border crossing in Rafah. However, since the Islamist Hamas took power in the Gaza Strip in 2007, there have been no more EU personnel at the border crossing because the EU did not want to cooperate with Hamas.

Plans for the deployment of German border guards

The reopening of the Rafah border crossing is part of a three-phase agreement between Hamas and Israel to end the Gaza war. In particular, it is intended to enable the import of significantly more humanitarian aid for the Palestinians. According to the Egyptian Red Cross, 3,000 trucks of humanitarian aid have been prepared in Sinai for entry into Gaza via the Rafah crossing. Hundreds of them are said to already be in the transit area.

According to Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, the first EU border guards to be deployed come from Italy, Spain and France. The German government has recently been planning for possible German participation.

As the Deutsche Presse-Agentur has learned from government circles, a cabinet decision from 2005 is to be adapted to allow the deployment of armed forces. The decision from 2005 only provided for the deployment of unarmed border guards. In the current situation, however, this is considered too dangerous.