BRUSSELS: The European Union agreed Monday to restart a monitoring mission at the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt as part of efforts to bolster the truce that halted Israel’s war in the territory.
The 27-nation bloc set up a civilian mission in 2005 to help monitor the crossing, but it was suspended two years later after the group Hamas took control of Gaza.
EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc’s foreign ministers had agreed to redeploy the mission, which she said “can play a decisive role in supporting the ceasefire”.
“It’s starting already from February,” Kallas said. “The people are ready to go and start work.”
“This will allow a number of injured individuals to leave Gaza and receive medical care,” she added.
EU officials said earlier the deployment had a mandate for 10 European personnel and eight local staff.
Gaza residents start to return north as crossing opened after hostage breakthrough
Italy, Spain and France said they would send officers to form part of a police security detachment to help protect the mission.
“The mission was launched at the request of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, with the full support of Egypt,” the Italian government said in a statement.
“The primary objective is to coordinate and facilitate the daily transit of up to 300 wounded and sick, ensuring assistance and protection to vulnerable people in a context of humanitarian emergency.”
The Rafah crossing, a crucial entry point into Gaza, was closed in May when the Israeli military seized the area and shuttered the Palestinian side.
The fragile ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas is intended to bring an end to the more than 15-month war that began with the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
During the first phase of the Gaza truce, 33 hostages are supposed to be freed in staggered releases over six weeks in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners held by the Israelis.
The second such swap, on Saturday, saw four Israeli women, all soldiers, exchanged for 200 prisoners, all Palestinian except for one Jordanian, during the truce that is now in its second week.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 47,317 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
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