Egypt builds a wall near Gaza amid possible attack on Rafah, according to satellite images

Egypt is building a wall and leveling land near its border with the Gaza Strip ahead of Israel’s expected attack on the border city of Rafah, satellite images analyzed Friday by The Associated Press show.

Egypt, which has not publicly recognized the action, has repeatedly warned Israel not to forcibly expel more than a million displaced Palestinians, now in the fourth month of war with the Hamas rebel group. Have taken refuge in Rafah.

Israel’s defense minister said Friday that Israel has “no intention” of pushing Palestinian civilians across the border into Egypt. But on the Egyptian side of the border, preparations in the Sinai Peninsula show that Cairo is preparing for a scenario that could jeopardize the 1979 peace accord with Israel that is a key part of the region’s security. .

The Egyptian government did not respond to AP’s request for comment on Friday. In a statement on 11 February, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry warned Israel against a possible attack in Rafah and “displacement of the Palestinian people”.

Satellite photos taken Thursday by Maxar Technologies show construction work on the wall, which is located along the Sheikh Zuwaid-Rafa highway, about 3.5 kilometers (2 miles) west of the border with Gaza. In the photos you can see cranes, trucks and precast concrete barriers placed on the roadside.

The images match those shown in a video distributed on February 12 by the London-based Sinai Foundation for Human Rights. The footage shows a crane lifting concrete walls from the side of the road.

“The purpose of the construction is to create a separate and closed high-security zone near the borders with the Gaza Strip in preparation for the reception of Palestinian refugees in the event of a mass exodus,” the foundation said.

Nearby, teams of workers are seen leveling and clearing the land for unknown purposes. It can also be seen in photographs of the area taken by Planet Labs PBC. According to The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed Egyptian officials, construction is underway on what it calls a “20-square-kilometre (8-square-mile) walled enclosure” that will house 100,000 people. More than 100 people can live there.

More conservative officials in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have raised the prospect of expelling Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, which Israel’s main ally, the United States, strongly opposes. Gaza, along with the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, are territories the Palestinians want for their future state.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said Friday there are no plans to push Palestinians into Egypt.

“The State of Israel has no intention of deporting Palestinian citizens to Egypt,” Gallant told reporters. “We respect and value our peace agreement with Egypt, which is a cornerstone of stability in the region as well as an important partner.”

An Israeli Intelligence Ministry report, written just six days after the October 7 attack launched by Hamas from Gaza, included a proposal to relocate the civilian population of the coastal area, which killed about 1,200 people and displaced more than 250. Was taken hostage. Build tent cities in North Sinai, and then permanent cities and an indefinite humanitarian corridor.

Since then, the war between Israel and Hamas has devastated large areas of the Gaza Strip and killed more than 28,600 Palestinians, mostly women and minors, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

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Joseph Federman contributed from Tel Aviv, Israel.