By Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA (Reuters) -The Palestinian Authority said on Wednesday it is prepared to operate the Gaza-side of a key crossing for aid between Egypt and Gaza.
“Now we are ready to engage again, and we have notified all parties that we are ready to operate the Rafah crossing,” said Mohammad Shtayyeh, special envoy to President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.
The Israeli military in May 2024 took control of the Palestinian side of Gaza’s southern Rafah crossing which borders Egypt and which has been central for the delivery of aid and the exit of injured people in the Gaza war.
The crossing, which briefly reopened between February and March this year, had been a lifeline to the outside world for Palestinians in Gaza, allowing the delivery of aid and the evacuation of patients from a collapsed healthcare system.
Shtayyeh said an agreement with the EU Border Assistance Mission to help the PA manage the crossing effectively, which was paused in March as hostilities recommenced, is still valid.
“We don’t need a new agreement. The agreement is there, and I think now it’s in the final shape of putting all the bits and pieces together for it to function,” he told reporters in Geneva on a visit to Switzerland where he met Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis.
Israeli officials said they had decided to restrict aid, allowing only half the agreed number of aid trucks into Gaza starting Wednesday, and to delay plans to open the southern border crossing to Egypt because Hamas had violated the ceasefire deal by failing to turn over bodies of hostages.
(Reporting by Olivia Le PoidevinEditing by Madeline Chambers)
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