EU states propose reactivating mission to open Gaza crossing

Germany, France and Britain have proposed reactivating a European Union mission on the Egypt-Gaza border to help stabilise the Palestinian enclave after a month-long war, a German diplomatic source said.

The source said German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and counterparts in Paris and London favoured restoring EU operations at the Rafah crossing which is the main window to the world for Gaza’s 1.8m Palestinians.

A two-day-old Gaza ceasefire was holding as Egyptian mediators pursued talks with Israeli and Palestinian envoys on a lasting end to a war in which Israeli shelling wrecked whole areas of the Islamist Hamas-dominated territory.