EU says civilian mission at Gaza border to restart on Wednesday
Brussels (dpa) – The European Union’s civilian mission to monitor a major border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will resume its work on Wednesday, EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said, as Hamas on Monday released Israeli hostages it had held for over two years.
The EU Border Assistance Mission in Rafah (EUBAM Rafah) was set up in 2005 to help monitor the border crossing in Rafah in the south of Gaza. However, after the Islamist terrorist group Hamas took power in the Gaza Strip in 2007, there were no EU personnel at the border crossing for a very long time because the EU did not want to cooperate with Hamas.
A resumption of the operation at the beginning of this year had to be stopped again after a short time because the underlying agreement between Hamas and Israel to end the Gaza war did not hold.
The EU border guards deployed at the time came from Italy, Spain and France. The German government has been laying the groundwork for possible German participation in a future mission.
EU top diplomat Kallas announced the relaunch of the border guard mission shortly after the release of living Israeli hostages by Hamas as part of a US plan to end the war.
“The release of hostages is a major success for diplomacy and a crucial milestone toward peace. President Trump made this breakthrough possible,” Kallas wrote on X, referring to the president of the United States, Donald Trump. (13 October)
