BREAKING NEWS

Germany, France, Britain propose EU mission to open Gaza crossing

Germany, France and Britain proposed reactivating a European Union mission to reopen the Rafah crossing on the Egypt-Gaza border to help stabilize the Palestinian enclave after a month-long war, a German diplomatic source said on Wednesday.

The source said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and counterparts in France and Britain favored restoring the crossing that is the main window to the world for isolated Gaza's 1.7 million Palestinians.

A two-day-old Gaza ceasefire was holding on Wednesday as Egyptian mediators pursued talks with Israeli and Palestinian envoys on an enduring end to a war in which Israeli shelling wrecked large parts of the Islamist Hamas-dominated territory.