ROME: An EU mission at the Rafah border point between Gaza and Egypt will resume following the ceasefire, with the pedestrian crossing due to reopen on October 14, Italy said Friday.
The EUBAM monitoring mission is intended to provide a neutral, third-party presence at the key crossing and involves police from Italy, Spain and France. It was deployed in January but suspended in March.
In a statement, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said he had authorized the resumption of Italian operations within the EU mission for the reopening of the crossing under the same conditions as in January.
It follows the ceasefire agreed between Israel and Hamas under a truce and hostage-release deal proposed by US President Donald Trump.
“On October 14, 2025, in compliance with the Trump agreement, in coordination with the European Union and the parties, the Rafah crossing will be opened alternately in two directions, exiting toward Egypt and entering toward Gaza,” Crosetto said.
He said Israel was “working to restore the logistical functionality of the crossing’s infrastructure as quickly as possible.”
Crosetto also said that “approximately 600 trucks carrying humanitarian aid will flow into Gaza from other (non-Rafah) crossings every day.”
In January, the EU said the main objective of the mission was to coordinate and facilitate the daily transit of up to 300 wounded and sick people.
Crosetto said Friday: “The passage of personnel will not be limited to serious medical cases, but will be extended to anyone who wishes (subject to the mutual approval of Israel and Egypt).”
The EU set up the civilian mission in 2005 to help monitor the Rafah crossing, but it was suspended two years later after the Palestinian group Hamas took control of Gaza.
EU-monitored Gaza pedestrian crossing to reopen next week: Italy
https://arab.news/2b7fn
EU-monitored Gaza pedestrian crossing to reopen next week: Italy
- An EU mission at the Rafah border point between Gaza and Egypt will resume following the ceasefire, with the pedestrian crossing due to reopen on October 14, Italy said Friday
Iraq starts investigations into Daesh detainees moved from Syria
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s judiciary announced on Monday it has begun its investigations into more than 1,300 Daesh group detainees who were transferred from Syria as part of a US operation.
“Investigation proceedings have started with 1,387 members of the Daesh terrorist organization who were recently transferred from the Syrian territory,” the judiciary’s media office said in a statement, using the Arabic acronym for Daesh.
“Under the supervision of the head of Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council, several judges specializing in counterterrorism started the investigation.”
Those detainees are among 7,000 IS suspects, previously held by Syrian Kurdish fighters, whom the US military said it would transfer to Iraq after Syrian government forces recaptured Kurdish-held territory.
They include Syrians, Iraqis and Europeans, among other nationalities, according to several Iraqi security sources.
In 2014, Daesh swept across Syria and Iraq, committing massacres and forcing women and girls into sexual slavery.
Backed by US-led forces, Iraq proclaimed the defeat of Daesh in the country in 2017, and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) ultimately beat back the group in Syria two years later.
The SDF went on to jail thousands of suspected extremists and detain tens of thousands of their relatives in camps.
Last month, the United States said the purpose of its alliance with Kurdish forces in Syria had largely expired, as Damascus pressed an offensive to take back territory long held by the SDF.
In Iraq, where many prisons are packed with Daesh suspects, courts have handed down hundreds of death sentences and life terms to people convicted of terrorism offenses, including many foreign fighters.
Iraq’s judiciary said its investigation procedures “will comply with national laws and international standards.”
