Peace deal for Gaza: EU wants to send border protection experts to Rafah

The EU wants to support the reopening of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip with border protection experts. In Brussels, 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), as the German Press Agency learned from diplomats.

This was set up in 2005 to help control the border crossing in Rafah. However, since the Islamist Hamas came to 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.

In a first phase, a low double-digit number of EU border protection experts and security support staff should be active at the border crossing, if possible from the beginning of February. They are supposed to supervise and accompany controls there.

The reopening of the Rafah crossing is part of a three-phase agreement between Hamas and Israel to end the Gaza war. The crossing in Rafah is intended to enable the import of significantly more humanitarian aid for the Palestinians.

Federal Foreign Ministry Annalena Baerbock, among others, recently supported an EU mission in Rafah. In mid-January, after the agreement between Israel and Hamas, the Green politician said that Germany was ready to provide support.