Brussels (Reuters)
A senior European Union official said yesterday that there are talks in a preliminary phase regarding the deployment of a European Union mission at the Rafah border crossing in Gaza, and that such a step will not happen before the end of the war in the Strip.
European Union foreign ministers are scheduled to hold their monthly meeting in Brussels on Monday, to discuss how to improve the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Two diplomats said that the United States proposed to the bloc to revive the European Union border assistance mission in Rafah, which has stopped working since 2007. The Rafah crossing is the main entry point for aid from Egypt, and has been closed since Israeli forces took control of it from the Palestinian side about three weeks ago.
The city of Rafah is now the scene of an Israeli military attack, which the judges of the International Court of Justice said must be stopped immediately.
The senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “Even if we have people on the ground now talking to different parties and seeing how the matter can be completed, we are in a very preliminary stage of the issue.”
The official said that Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, may be mandated by the 27 member states on Monday to put forward “some kind of conclusion” that would allow the mission to be deployed.
He added that the deployment of the mission may not happen “in the current circumstances, not in the circumstances of war.” He continued: “We are talking about the future.” Three European Union diplomats said that the discussion would be on the table, but that there was no concrete matter to discuss. One diplomat said the proposal was “far-fetched.” Diplomats said that this mission may go ahead only if Egypt and Israel agree to it.
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