- Home
- War in the Middle East
- Egypt Building 'Enclosure' for Potential Displaced Gazans in Sinai
©(MOHAMMED ABED AFP)
As Israel threatens a massive offensive on Rafah, Egypt prepares a secure camp to receive Palestinian refugees. Since the beginning of the war, Egypt has refused any forced displacement of Palestinians on its territory.
Egypt is constructing a walled camp in the Sinai Peninsula to receive displaced Palestinian civilians from the Gaza Strip, a US media report and an Egyptian human rights monitor said on Friday.
But Israel, which is waging a four-month-old war against Hamas militants in the territory, said it had no plans to move civilians there, as it prepares an offensive in Rafah, in Gaza's far south.
The Wall Street Journal said an eight-square-mile (21-square-kilometre) "walled enclosure" was under construction on the Egyptian side of the border.
The compound was part of "contingency plans" if ceasefire talks in Cairo failed and could accommodate more than 100,000 people, it added.
The Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, an Egyptian NGO, released a report this week that it said showed construction of the compound to receive Palestinian refugees "in the case of a mass exodus".
AFP reviewed satellite pictures taken on Thursday of the area in northern Sinai, showing machinery building a wall along the Egypt-Gaza border. The area is highly secure and closed to journalists.
A comparison of satellite photos taken on February 10 and February 15 shows land having been graded.
North Sinai governor Mohamed Shousha has denied Egypt is preparing "an isolated area in Sinai" to receive refugees.
The construction work was to assess houses destroyed during upheaval in recent years to "properly compensate" owners, he said Thursday.
The Sinai Foundation for Human Rights said two contractors told it construction firms had been tasked with building the gated area, "surrounded by seven-metre-high walls".
The site lies on the "rubble" of Egyptian homes "demolished" during the state's war against Islamist insurgents in northern Sinai over the past decade, it said.
Sources in Sinai told AFP the area was being prepared in case of a breach of the Gaza border, which Egypt has fortified with additional walls and buffer zones since Israel's war with Hamas began.
"The area will be readied with tents" and humanitarian assistance would be delivered inside, said one source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Egypt, which controls the Rafah border crossing from Gaza, has repeatedly warned against any "forced displacement" of Palestinians from Gaza into the Sinai desert.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said if that happened it could jeopardize the peace treaty Egypt signed with Israel in 1979.
In Tel Aviv on Friday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel had "no intention of evacuating Palestinian civilians to Egypt".
"We respect and value our peace agreement with Egypt, which is a cornerstone of stability in the region as well as an important partner," he added.
With AFP
Egypt is constructing a walled camp in the Sinai Peninsula to receive displaced Palestinian civilians from the Gaza Strip, a US media report and an Egyptian human rights monitor said on Friday.
But Israel, which is waging a four-month-old war against Hamas militants in the territory, said it had no plans to move civilians there, as it prepares an offensive in Rafah, in Gaza's far south.
The Wall Street Journal said an eight-square-mile (21-square-kilometre) "walled enclosure" was under construction on the Egyptian side of the border.
The compound was part of "contingency plans" if ceasefire talks in Cairo failed and could accommodate more than 100,000 people, it added.
The Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, an Egyptian NGO, released a report this week that it said showed construction of the compound to receive Palestinian refugees "in the case of a mass exodus".
AFP reviewed satellite pictures taken on Thursday of the area in northern Sinai, showing machinery building a wall along the Egypt-Gaza border. The area is highly secure and closed to journalists.
A comparison of satellite photos taken on February 10 and February 15 shows land having been graded.
North Sinai governor Mohamed Shousha has denied Egypt is preparing "an isolated area in Sinai" to receive refugees.
The construction work was to assess houses destroyed during upheaval in recent years to "properly compensate" owners, he said Thursday.
The Sinai Foundation for Human Rights said two contractors told it construction firms had been tasked with building the gated area, "surrounded by seven-metre-high walls".
The site lies on the "rubble" of Egyptian homes "demolished" during the state's war against Islamist insurgents in northern Sinai over the past decade, it said.
Sources in Sinai told AFP the area was being prepared in case of a breach of the Gaza border, which Egypt has fortified with additional walls and buffer zones since Israel's war with Hamas began.
"The area will be readied with tents" and humanitarian assistance would be delivered inside, said one source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Egypt, which controls the Rafah border crossing from Gaza, has repeatedly warned against any "forced displacement" of Palestinians from Gaza into the Sinai desert.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said if that happened it could jeopardize the peace treaty Egypt signed with Israel in 1979.
In Tel Aviv on Friday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel had "no intention of evacuating Palestinian civilians to Egypt".
"We respect and value our peace agreement with Egypt, which is a cornerstone of stability in the region as well as an important partner," he added.
With AFP
Read more
Comments