Germany paves way for deployment of police to EU's Gaza-Egypt border mission

Germany’s cabinet yesterday approved the deployment of police to two EU civilian missions in the Palestinian territories, including an operation to monitor the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt at Rafah, Reuters reported.

Government ministers agreed in principle to Germany’s participation in the two missions, which include the EU mission helping secure the entry and exit point at Rafah and the EUPOL COPPS mission that aims to support Palestinian police forces.

The timing as well as the size of Germany’s contribution has yet to be decided. Berlin’s involvement does not require the blessing of the Bundestag parliament because they are civilian missions, government officials said.

“A security architecture must be created that prevents Hamas from regaining control of the Gaza Strip,” the government spokesperson said, adding that both missions contributed to this goal.

The European Union last month restarted the civilian mission at Rafah with personnel from Spain, Italy and France to help secure the crossing.

Germany, which holds federal elections on 23 February, has previously said some of its ministries had consulted on their role in the mission.

The ceasefire in Gaza, in place since 19 January, has been thrown into doubt after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday the military would resume bombing Gaza if Hamas did not release captives by Saturday.

Hamas said it would not continue to release Israeli captives if Israel did not abide by the terms of the truce.

Under the terms of the deal, Israel was due to allow in 12,000 trucks of aid but has so far only allowed 8,500 to enter the besieged enclave, 50 trucks of fuel a day were also due to enter Gaza to allow emergency services and hospitals to operate, however only 15 are being allowed to trickle in. In addition, occupation forces have allowed no mobile homes to enter the enclave in spite of the ceasefire deal outlining that 60,000 would be allowed in, while only 20,000 of the 200,000 tents agreed to have entered Gaza.

The only border crossing for the Palestinian territories not controlled by Israel was reopened on 1 February allowing the entry of aid, but not Palestinians who were evacuated for medical care.

READ: Germany calls on US and Israel to seek perspective for real peace in Gaza