As of: February 16, 2024, 2:54 p.m
By: Michael Kister
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An Israeli offensive in Rafah could force more than a million Palestinians to flee again.
Egypt is preparing on the border with the Gaza Strip.
Cairo - Egypt is worried about the situation in southern Gaza: An Israeli military offensive on the border town of Rafah appears to be imminent.
According to the UN, around 1.3 million people, the majority of the Palestinian population, fled there.
To prepare for a possible mass exodus, Egypt cleared an area of around 21 square kilometers not far from the border with Israel and the Gaza Strip and is now enclosing it with a concrete wall over six meters high.
The Sinai Foundation for Human Rights,
based in Great Britain, first reported
this on X.
The organization shared its information with The
Washington Post
, which verified some of the images.
Egyptian officials told the
Wall Street Journal
that 100,000 people could find refuge in the camp.
To accommodate them, numerous tents are currently being delivered.
If there is a mass exodus from Rafah, the officials continued, they would like to limit the number of refugees admitted to 50,000 or 60,000 and remain well below the maximum capacity.
Egypt wants to prevent the mass influx of Palestinians
The Egyptian leadership is taking emergency precautions with the work.
But she actually wants to prevent Palestinian refugees from streaming across the border.
Egyptian media reported that for this purpose, the military presence on the border was increased with armored vehicles and over three dozen tanks.
The country is so serious that it threatened to suspend the 1979 peace treaty with Israel if an offensive pushed Palestinians across the border.
Destroyed buildings in Rafah.
© Yasser Qudih/XinHua/dpa
At the same time, international negotiations are underway to find a solution to the refugee problem.
According to the Washington Post
, citing an insider,
Israel has proposed setting up 15 camps with 25,000 tents each along Gaza's Mediterranean coast.
Alternatively, a corridor could be established to lead the Palestinians who are in Rafah back to the north, to Gaza City.
However, neither proposal reached consensus, the insider continued.
Israeli offensive is likely despite international warnings
US President Joe Biden confirmed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by telephone on Thursday that his country does not support a major Israeli attack on Rafah until a realistic plan to evacuate civilians has been found.
The White House announced this.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also warned Netanyahu on the same day about the humanitarian consequences of such an attack, according to the government in London.
Nevertheless, it can be assumed that the offensive in Rafah will come.
Israel desperately wants to destroy the remaining Hamas units it suspects are still in Rafah and, in particular, eliminate their leadership.
The Israeli military recently released a video purporting to show Hamas leader Jihia Sinwar moving through a tunnel under the city of Bani Suheila on October 10, 2023.
This is interpreted as evidence that he is in the Gaza Strip and can be caught.