Rafah situation worsening, Gaza official says

The situation at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip is worsening in light of  the deteriorating security situation in Egypt, the Director General of the Public Authority for the border crossing in Gaza said on Monday, assuring that coordination with the Egyptian side has not stopped. Maher Abu Sabha said in a press release that the Rafah border crossing is now in a worst situation than it was at the beginning of the year huge crowds of people were accumulated on both sides of the border. Sabha said the crossing will be opened on Tuesday and the work will return to normal, as prior to the events in Egypt on June 30. The Rafah crossing has recently witnessed a decline in the number of travellers from and to Gaza since Egypt’s Islamist president Mohammed Morsi was ousted on July 3. Abu Sabha pointed out that Egyptian authorities have let three buses, carrying nearly 150 passengers to cross, noting that only humanitarian cases and those who held foreign residency were allowed.