Satellite images that reveal “the works” that Egypt is carrying out on its border with Gaza

Satellite images appear to show extensive construction work underway on Egypt’s border with Link which, according to some sources, are being carried out in preparation for the reception of Palestinian refugees.

Anonymous Egyptian sources stated that work is being carried out to create a neutral zone containing a walled enclosure in the north of the Egyptian province of Sinai, in case Israel proceeds with its planned ground offensive on Rafathe southernmost city of Link.

SEE: How Rafah, the city on the border between Gaza and Egypt where 1.5 million Palestinians take refuge, was divided into two

According to reports published by a human rights group, they are being built seven meter high walls in that area.

Egypt has denied that it is making such preparations.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said his country “has no intention of evacuating Palestinian civilians to Egypt.”

Since the start of the war in Gaza, following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, Egypt has consistently stated that will not open its border to refugees.

It’s a stance he’s taken partly because he doesn’t want to appear complicit in the large-scale displacement of Palestinians, but also out of economic and security concerns.

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be determined to carry out a major offensive in Rafah, where there is 1.4 million refugeesdespite international rejection against the operation.

clean land

In anticipation of the planned attack on Rafah, Israel issued directives for civilians to move to open rural areas north of the city.

Netanyahu vaguely referred to “the areas we deforested north of Rafah”, but everything indicates that the plan is still at an early stage.

Israel had already instructed the Palestinians to move towards Rafah while fighting was taking place in the north of the Strip, at the start of its offensive.

“We will fight until complete victory and this also includes powerful actions in Rafah after we allow the civilian population to leave the battle zones,” Netanyahu said on Thursday.

This Sunday, Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli war cabinet, warned that unless Hamas releases all hostages held in Gaza by March 10, an offensive will be launched in Rafah.

The latest satellite images, released by Maxar Technologies, may indicate that Egypt has decided to take precautionary measures as a result of the impending offensive.

In an image dated February 15, large areas of land near the Rafah crossing into Gaza they appear to have been cleaned.

The work appears to have been completed in the last few days, as can be seen by comparing the landscape with an image taken five days earlier.

Two photos of the same area on the Egypt-Gaza border taken five days apart.

Talking to the Saudi network TV Al Arabiya Al Hadath On Thursday, the governor of the Egyptian province of North Sinai, Mohammed Shousha, said that the aim of the activity in the region is to “conduct an inventory of the houses” destroyed during Egypt’s latest campaign against the Islamic State.

Shousha added that Egypt’s position is “not to allow the forced displacement of Gaza residents to Egypt.”

But satellite images from February 15 also show construction vehicles along the highway near the unobstructed border area, with some of them apparently erecting a large wall.

In the closer image below, a vehicle can be seen near wall sections that appear to be on the ground, ready to be added.

Satellite image shows what appears to be a wall being built on Egypt’s border with Gaza.

“In case of mass exodus”

In addition to satellite images, photos and videos of the area captured and published by members of the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights also appear to show construction activity.

The group said in a recent report that the images – not yet verified by the BBC – show an enclosed area with a seven-metre wall being built at the site.

The report also cited a source familiar with the matter as saying that the construction is being carried out with the aim of “receiving refugees from Gaza in the event of a mass exodus of residents from the Strip”.

The diary Wall Street Journal confirmed the report with Egyptian officials and security analysts who stated that the complex being built is 20.7 square kilometers and could accommodate more than 100,000 people.

Map of the border between Egypt and Gaza

UN concern

Speaking to foreign journalists on Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was blunt on the matter: “The State of Israel has 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.”

Israel knows this It cannot be allowed to be demonstrated that the Palestinians are being removed from their territorybut this does not mean that the Palestinians will leave if they want.

Israel would not intervene if Egypt was willing to host around 100,000 refugees (as some estimates suggest based on the capacity of the complex being built in the Egyptian Sinai).

UN officials are very concerned and fear that a mass evacuation is imminent. “It seems like everything is heading in that direction,” one official told the BBC on condition of anonymity.

Speaking to Reuters news agency at the Munich Security Conference, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi warned that a flood of refugees from Rafah into Egypt would be “a disaster for the Palestinians… a disaster for Egypt and a disaster for the future.” of peace.

Thousands of Palestinians live in precarious conditions in camps in southern Gaza. (EPA).

A new “naqba”

Expulsion to Egypt – which is how any cross-border evacuation would be perceived – is among Palestinians’ deepest fears.

Around the 80% of the population of the Gaza Strip are descendants of refugees who fled or were expelled from their villages during Israel’s War of Independence.

Leaving Gaza, the last fragment of his ancestral home, For many, it would be like repeating what the Palestinians call the “Naqba” or catastrophe of 1948..

Even though a refugee camp across the border is described as a temporary shelter, the sense of shock that would accompany their departure from Gaza would be profound.

And even if Israel wants to present this transfer as voluntary – in response to an Egyptian invitation – Palestinians will have difficulty seeing it as anything other than a forced expulsion, after more than four months of Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas-run Ministry of Health has more than 28,700 the number of deaths as a consequence of the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

Israel began the offensive after gunmen led by Hamas will kill around 1,200 people and take 253 hostages in a surprise attack against its territory on October 7th.

Source: Elcomercio