A civilian EU mission to help monitor the Rafah crossing was agreed to in 2005 but suspended in June 2007. Read more at straitstimes.com.

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 militant Islamist group Hamas took control of Gaza.

For the EU Border Assistance Mission in Rafah to effectively restart it needed a cessation of hostilities between terrorist organisation Hamas and Israel, which happened on 15 January when the two parties to the conflict signed a ceasefire, which then entered into force on 19 January.

The European Union is ready to redeploy its border assistance mission at the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, Kaja Kallas, the European Union's foreign affairs chief, said on Monday. The civilian mission was launched in 2005 to assist with trade facilitation and the processing of biometric passports but was suspended in 2007 when Hamas took

The European Union Monday agreed to deploy forces at Gaza’s border with Egypt to bolster a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas while reiterating its support for a two-state solution as the foundation for lasting peace in the region.

The European Union is in talks to revive a civilian mission to monitor the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt at Rafah following the announcement of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.

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 truce that halted Israel's war on the enclave.