<div style="text-align: justify; "><b><span style="font-size: 1rem;">The European Union aims to agree in principle to press ahead with an EU border mission at Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip abutting Egypt, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.</span><br></b></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Speaking before a monthly meeting of EU foreign ministers, Borrell also accused Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of using false claims of antisemitism against the International Criminal Court for his own political ends.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The bloc is considering reviving its European Union Border Assistance Mission (Eubam) at Rafah, which has not been operational since 2007, when the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas seized full control of Gaza.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Rafah crossing is the main entry point for aid from Egypt, and has been closed since Israeli forces took control of it from the Gazan side nearly three weeks ago.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Today we can have a political decision and then it needs to be implemented technically,” Borrell told reporters, adding it would require approval from Israel, Egypt and the Palestinians.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The civilian mission would need unanimous approval from the 27 EU member states. It was not immediately clear what the role of a revived Eubam would be, and it would have to be adapted to reflect the potentially dangerous nature of such an operation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Austria’s foreign minister Alexander Schallenberg said it would take some time for any decision on the mission to be put in place. Diplomats have said the mission was unlikely to be in place before hostilities in Rafah stopped.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Israel has yet to consolidate a ‘day-after’ plan for Gaza, so there is no formal position on this initiative,” said an Israeli official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of war planning.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“But it is worth remembering that the (Israeli) defence minister, in his Jan 4 proposal, outlined a multinational force that would be one of the four prongs for managing Gaza once Hamas is defeated. An EU mission in Rafah could potentially dovetail with that,” the official added. - Reuters </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd/fas</div>