The European Union's monitoring mission at the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt will be reduced because it is unclear when the crossing will be reopened, a mission spokeswoman said on Saturday.
Some 87 EU monitors and supervisors have been overseeing the Rafah crossing with Egypt under an agreement that took effect in November 2005 to help open up Gaza after Israel withdrew from the territory nearly two years ago.
The spokeswoman said the number of monitors based in Israel would be cut back because Rafah has been closed since June 9 and because of the uncertainty about the future of the crossing following Hamas's seizure of the Gaza Strip on June 14.
"We are not foreseeing a return to normalcy" in the near future, the spokeswoman said. She added that enough of the monitors would remain on standby to reopen the crossing on short notice if the situation allows.
"We are maintaining ... our full operational capabilities in case the border is reopened," she said. It is unclear how many of the European monitors will be sent home. Hamas seized control of Gaza after weeks of fierce fighting with forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the secular Fatah faction.
The European Union, the United States and Israel consider Hamas a "terrorist" organisation. Palestinian Information Minister Riyad al-Malki said he would travel to the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing on Sunday to visit thousands of Palestinians stranded there.
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