An Egyptian official has denied that an agreement was reached with Israel to reopen the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, Egyptian TV has reported.

Quoting a high-level source, Egypt’s state-affiliated al-Qahera News TV said on Friday that “there is no truth” in media reports about an Egyptian-Israeli agreement to reopen the vital crossing to Gaza – the Palestinian side of which was taken over by the Israeli military earlier this month.

“Egypt insists on a full Israeli withdrawal from the crossing as a condition to resume its work,” the source told the channel, according to Germany’s DPA news agency.