US seeks help from EU group to reopen Rafah crossing

The US is seeking to recruit a European organisation to manage the Rafah border crossing in order to boost aid flows to Gaza, Politico is reporting, citing a senior US administration official and another source.

US officials have been brokering talks between Israel and Egypt in the hopes of reaching a deal that would see the European organization manage the crossing, which has been closed since Israeli forces seized it ahead of their invasion of the city on 7 May.

Talks between Israel and Egypt regarding the management of the crossing had reach an impasse, as Egypt has said it wants the crossing to be managed by Gazans, as it had been previously.

However Israel has said that the group who previously managed the crossing included members of Hamas.

As a solution, the US has proposed introducing the European Union Border Assistance Mission as a neutral third party to manage the crossing.

The mission, which was created by the EU Council, previously worked at the crossing but suspended its operations in 2007 after Hamas took over Gaza.