Egypt denies building shelters for Palestinians, stresses rejection to any displacement attempt

By Ibrahim al-Khazen

ISTANBUL (AA) - Egyptian authorities on Friday denied building f shelters for Palestinians in the Sinai Peninsula near its borders with Gaza, contrary to reports.

Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt's State Information Service (SIS), denied the existence of "Cairo's plans to build shelters for Palestinians in the vicinity of the Egyptian border with the Gaza Strip in the event that they are forcibly displaced as a result of the bloody Israeli aggression against them."

He reiterated his country's firm position of a categorical "rejection of any forced or voluntary displacement of Palestinian brothers from the Gaza Strip to outside it, especially to Egyptian lands, because this is a certain liquidation of the Palestinian issue."

Rashwan added, however, that "Egypt already had, and since a long time before the outbreak of the current crisis, a buffer zone and fences in this region," describing it as normal measures to maintain the security of its borders.

The Wall Street Journal said Friday that Egypt is implementing contingency plans that include work on a 20-square-kilometer (8-square-mile) walled enclosure near the Gaza Strip that could house more than 100,000 people, who may flee an Israeli incursion against Rafah.

Israeli public broadcaster KAN said Sunday that the army approved a plan to attack Rafah.

Around 1.5 million Palestinians are living as refugees in Rafah, which straddles the border between Gaza and Egypt. It also serves as an entry point for humanitarian aid.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack. The ensuing Israeli attack had killed at least 28,775, injured more than 68,552 others and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Less than 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar