By Alexander Ratz and Rachel More
BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany’s cabinet approved the deployment of police to two EU civilian missions in the Palestinian territories on Wednesday, including an operation to monitor the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt at Rafah.
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. Germany’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 February 23, has previously said some of its ministries had consulted on their role in the mission.
The ceasefire in Gaza in place since January has been thrown in doubt after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday the military would resume fighting Hamas if the Palestinian militant group did not release hostages by Saturday.
(Writing by Ludwig BurgerEditing by Kirsti Knolle, Miranda Murray, Madeline Chambers, Peter Graff)
