Kallas called it 'an important step' after months of negotiations
Kaja Kallas on Thursday welcomed an Israeli decision to extend the mandate of the EU’s border assistance mission at the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt until mid-2027.
Initially set up in 2005 to help monitor the key crossing, the civilian EUBAM mission was put on standby for nearly two decades after the Islamist militant group Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007.
The Rafah crossing shut down entirely during Israel’s war with Hamas, but has reopened on a limited basis since February with monitors from the EU – which announced last week that more than 10,000 people had since passed between Gaza and Egypt.
Kallas, the EU top diplomat, said Israeli authorities had agreed to extend until the end of June 2027 the mandates of both the Rafah monitoring mission and the EUPOL COPPS scheme that provides training for Palestinian police forces and advice on rebuilding Gaza’s judicial system.
