Satellite photos show Egypt building a wall near Gaza Strip as Israeli offensive on Rafah looms

Egypt is building a wall and is levelling land near its border with the Gaza Strip ahead of a planned Israeli offensive targeting the border city of Rafah satellite images analyzed Friday by The Associated Press showEgypt which has not publicly acknowledged the construction repeatedly has warned Israel not to forcibly expel the over 1 million Palestinians now displaced in Rafah across the border into its territory while it battles the militant group Hamas for a fifth monthHowever the preparations on the Egyptian side of the border in the Sinai Peninsula suggest Cairo is preparing for just that scenario something that could threaten its 1979 peace deal with Israel thats been a linchpin for regional securityThe Egyptian government did not respond to requests for comment Friday from the AP The Egyptian Foreign Ministry on February 11 issued a statement warning Israel over its possible Rafah offensive and its ldquodisplacement of the Palestinian peoplerdquoThe satellite images taken Thursday by Maxar Technologies show construction ongoing on the wall which sits along the Sheikh ZuweidRafah Road some 35 kilometres 2 miles west of the border with Gaza The images show cranes trucks and what appear to be precast concrete barriers being set up along the roadThose satellite images correspond to features seen in a video released by the Londonbased Sinai Foundation for Human Rights on February 12 The video shows a crane lifting concrete walls into place along the roadThe construction ldquois intended to create a highsecurity gated and isolated area near the borders with the Gaza Strip in preparation for the reception of Palestinian refugees in the case of a mass exodusrdquo the foundation saidNearby as well construction crews appear to be leveling and clearing ground for an unknown purpose That can also be seen in imagery from Planet Labs PBC of the area The Wall Street Journal quoting anonymous Egyptian officials described ldquoan 8squaremile 20squarekilometer walled enclosurerdquo being built in the area that could accommodate over 100000 peopleAlso read Multivehicle crash in Egypt leaves at least 15 deadHomes and farmland in the area previously had been razed during Egypts war on an affiliate of the Islamic State group in the areaHardline officials within Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government have raised the possibility of pushing Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip something strongly opposed by Israels main ally the United States The Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank are lands the Palestinians hope to have for their future stateThe Israeli military referred questions regarding Egypts construction to Netanyahus office which did not respondA report by Israels Intelligence Ministry drafted just six days after Hamas October 7 attack from the Gaza Strip that killed 1200 people and saw over 250 others taken hostage included a proposal of moving Gazas civilian population to tent cities in the northern Sinai then building permanent cities and an undefined humanitarian corridorIn the time since the IsraelHamas war has laid wide swaths of the seaside enclave to waste and killed more than 28600 people mostly women and children according to the Health Ministry in GazaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever