EU to redeploy monitors at Rafah Border Crossing in bid to bolster Gaza ceasefire
Italy says monitoring mission, which was halted when Hamas seized control of Strip in 2007, ‘was launched at the request of Israel and the PA’

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 hostage release and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
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 Islamist terror group Hamas seized 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” that took effect last week.
“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.
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 reopened as part of the ceasefire, after being closed in May when the Israeli military seized the area, with Egypt refusing to reopen the gateway until it was back under Palestinian control. The crossing is a major conduit for aid into Gaza and its closure has worsened the humanitarian crisis caused by the war, which was sparked by Hamas’s devastating attack on southern Israel in October 2023.
A report last week in the the Saudi-owned, UK-based Asharq Al-Awsat, said Israel has agreed to allow the PA to take control of the Rafah crossing in future stages of the hostage-ceasefire deal, though this was partly denied by the Prime Minister’s Office, which accused the Palestinian Authority of attempting to “create a false picture to the effect that it controls the crossing.”
However, the PMO admitted that the current arrangement at the crossing is “correct for the first stage of the framework and will be evaluated in the future,” and that the PA currently plays a limited role at the border crossing.
According to the PMO, the IDF currently controls the crossing point and “nobody passes through it without supervision, oversight and advance approval of the IDF and Shin Bet.” It stated that “non-Hamas Gazans” provide technical management at the crossing with international oversight, and the PA provides the stamp on passports allowing Gazans to exit the Strip.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly refused to entertain the idea of the PA ruling postwar Gaza, accusing it of glorifying terror and supporting the October 7 attack. However, many in the Israeli security establishment have privately backed such a move due to the lack of any other viable alternative.