A European Union official said on Friday that there are talks in an initial stage about deploying a bloc mission at the Rafah border crossing in the Gaza Strip, and that such a step will not happen before the end of the war.
Two diplomats also told Reuters that the United States proposed to the bloc to revive the European Union border assistance mission in Rafah, which has stopped working since 2007.
European Union foreign ministers are scheduled to hold their monthly meeting in Brussels next Monday, to discuss how to improve the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Yesterday, Thursday, European Union Commission spokesman Peter Stano refused to comment on reports about the United States’ desire to deploy an EU mission at the Rafah crossing.
But he said, “The bloc is in contact with a wide range of partners on the ground to enhance solutions and efforts aimed at achieving a two-state solution.”
In recent days, international media reported, citing American officials, that the administration of President Joe Biden has been holding talks for weeks with Israel and Egypt, to accelerate the flow of aid by deploying a European mission at the Rafah crossing.
It is noteworthy that Israel has been launching a ground attack on the city of Rafah since May 6, and the next day it seized the border crossing with Egypt, which led to its closure to the crossing of the wounded and already scarce humanitarian aid.
Only very limited quantities of humanitarian aid, fuel, or medicines and medical supplies enter the Strip, threatening a humanitarian catastrophe.
