EU to restart Gaza-Egypt border monitoring mission

Agencies :

The European Union will Wednesday restart a civilian mission to monitor the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt in support of a US-brokered ceasefire deal, the bloc’s top diplomat said Monday.

“The EU stands ready to do its part,” Kaja Kallas posted on X after Hamas released a first group of Israeli hostages as part of the agreement. “This mission can play an important role in supporting the ceasefire,” she said.

The 27-nation bloc set up a civilian mission in 2005 to help monitor the Rafah crossing, but it was suspended two years later after the militant Islamist group Hamas took control of Gaza.

The EUBAM monitoring mission aims to provide a neutral, third-party presence at the key crossing and involves police from Italy, Spain and France. It was briefly redeployed in January but suspended again in March.

Welcoming Monday’s hostage release, Kallas highlighted US President Donald Trump’s role in this “crucial milestone towards peace”, saying the leader “made this breakthrough possible”.

In a separate statement, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Monday’s Gaza summit in Sharm el-Sheikh finalising the agreement to end the war would be “a historical milestone.”

The bloc “fully supports the peace plan brokered by the United States, Qatar, Egypt, and Turkiye,” she wrote.

“We stand ready to contribute to its success with all tools at our disposal,” she said, including by “providing support on governance and for the reform of the Palestinian Authority”.

The EU is represented in Sharm el-Sheikh by Antonio Costa, who heads the European Council of the bloc’s member states.