Egypt has denied reports that stranded Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are being forced to pay huge bribes to flee the besieged territory via the Rafah border crossing. The head of the Egyptian State Information Service (SIS), Diaa Rashwan, stressed that official authorities at the Rafah crossing are “collecting fees in accordance with Egyptian law regulating border-crossing operations” and described the media reports of bribery as groundless. Rashwan also dismissed other reports suggesting that “some unofficial parties were collecting charges in return for allowing passengers to cross into Egy…