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ARCHIVE - Aid transports queue at the Rafah border crossing to enter the Palestinian territories. Photo: Gehad Hamdy/dpa/Archive image
Keystone
The EU wants to support the reopening of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip with border security experts. Representatives of the member states responsible for security policy approved a revised operational plan for the EU mission to support border protection in Rafah (Eubam Rafah) in Brussels, as the German Press Agency was informed by diplomats.
This mission had already been set up 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 EU personnel at the border crossing because the EU did not want to cooperate with Hamas.
In a first phase, a low double-digit number of EU border security experts and support staff are now to be deployed at the border crossing, if possible from the beginning of February. They are to supervise and accompany controls there.
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, the Rafah crossing is intended to allow significantly more humanitarian aid to reach the Palestinians.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, among others, recently advocated an EU mission in Rafah. In mid-January, following the agreement between Israel and Hamas, the Green politician said that Germany was ready to provide support.
24.01.2025, 18:22
