EU open to help Egypt bolster Gaza border security

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The European Union said on Wednesday it was prepared to help Egypt prevent arms smuggling along its border with the Gaza Strip as part of a ceasefire with Israel but played down the need for foreign ground forces.

Israel has hinged halting its offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on international and regional commitments to prevent the Islamist group from replenishing its stockpiles of rockets capable of hitting deep inside the Jewish state.

Western and Israeli diplomats said the talks centered on the idea of sending specialized international forces or teams, equipped to search out and destroy smuggling tunnels, to the so-called Philadelphi corridor that runs between Gaza and Egypt.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana told Reuters in an interview in Israel that the bloc would consider ways to help the Egyptians combat arms smuggling.

But Solana said hunting for tunnels under the Philadelphi corridor would "be done probably with technology, not with people." He said the technological means were available to address the problem, though he offered no specific details.

Israeli officials say advanced sonar can detect some tunnels but they are skeptical that technology alone would prevent Palestinians from rebuilding smuggling tunnels under the sandy, 14-km (9 mile)-long Philadelphi corridor.

Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip has included several air force sorties in which "bunker buster" bombs were dropped on the corridor, exploding underground and sending out shockwaves designed to collapse the secret passages.

Another senior EU diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the bloc was pushing for a broader monitoring mission as part of any Gaza ceasefire that would ensure both sides meet their obligations.

This would include having monitors verify that Israel opens border crossings with the Gaza Strip to humanitarian and other goods. Israel has been cool to this idea.

Hamas has demanded that Israel lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip.

(Editing by Michael Roddy)