EU border agency Frontex weighs ‘potential scenarios’ for Gaza borders

The EU border agency Frontex is drawing up ‘potential scenarios’ to assess how it might provide additional support, if needed, at the borders with the Gaza Strip, its executive director, Hans Leijtens, told a group of media, including Euractiv.

With more than 1.3 million Gazans displaced and trapped in Rafah, the 64 square kilometre area at the border with Egypt, the situation is escalating as Israel intensifies its attacks. This is likely to produce a range of scenarios at the border that Frontex is evaluating, Leijtens said on Tuesday (5 March).

“We are preparing ourselves, and we will be starting to make scenarios to understand what might happen and of course, to enable us to react as the European Border and Coast Guard community, but specifically, as the European Border and Coast Guard Agency,” Leijtens said.

“The numbers right now are still stable. What we see [currently] is not yet triggered by the events in October last year,” the Frontex director explained, referring to the 7 October attacks on Israel by the Hamas militia, which killed 1,200 people and provoked Israel’s retaliation.

Asked which scenarios and what kind of deployment is foreseen, a Frontex spokesperson told Euractiv it was “too early to discuss any details” but the agency would be preparing for additional support and scenarios of different “border sections”, bearing in mind the sensitivity of the situation on the ground, including possible war crimes.

Human rights organisations, meanwhile, warn of people being forcibly displaced.

“There are now over one million displaced Palestinians in Rafah. Forcing them to again evacuate without a safe place to go would be unlawful, and would have catastrophic consequences,” Human Rights Watch’s associate director for EU advocacy, Claudio Francavilla, told Euractiv.

“A Rafah offensive forcing people into Egypt may amount to forced deportation, which is a war crime,” he added. At the same time, people in Gaza should be able to leave if the Israeli offensive continues, Francavilla said.

“Israel and Egypt should permit civilians to cross their borders to seek at least temporary protection while also ensuring that anyone who flees is entitled to voluntary return in safety and dignity immediately,” he added.

The situation in Gaza has taken a dramatic turn for the worse since Hamas forces attacked Israelis in territories near Gaza on 7 October. The Palestinian death toll surpassed 30,000 at the end of February, according to the Gaza health ministry, which could not be independently verified.

Francavilla complained that “some EU member states continue to provide Israel with arms, while also trying to defund” the UN relief agency working with Palestinian refugees [UNRWA], “despite overwhelming evidence of Israel’s serious violations of the laws of war that are causing unspeakable suffering in Gaza”.

In the meantime, a network smuggling Gazans into Egypt has developed in recent months, according to a Guardian investigation published in January.

Bribes up to €9,000 are paid to “brokers and couriers with alleged links to the Egyptian intelligence services,” the newspaper revealed.

“EU and member states’ efforts should focus on preventing further atrocities, press Israel to comply with the International Court of Justice ruling on the genocide case, allow humanitarian aid in and abide by the laws of war,” Francavilla told Euractiv, pointing out that Human Rights Watch asked for sanction and arms embargoes at the EU level.

In the meantime, the EU intensified relations with Egypt, considered a “strategic partner” for the bloc. With the EU-Egypt Association Council of January 2024, the EU promised a wide range of investments in the North African Country.

Among others, the EU confirmed €110 million to Egypt for 2024 for migration management, including three search and rescue boats for the navy, a source close to the matter confirmed to Euractiv.

EU grants €87m to Egypt for migration management in 2024

Over 2024, the EU will provide €87 million and new equipment to Egypt for a migration management project started in 2022, implemented by the UN migration agency and the French Interior Ministry operator Civipol, three sources close to the matter confirmed to Euractiv.

[Edited by Alexandra Brzozowski/Zoran Radosavljevic]