Egypt is building a wall on the Gaza border

According to reports, the Egyptian government has started the construction of a wall near the country’s border with Gaza amid fears of a planned Israeli army ground attack on Rafah. In the event of an Israeli attack, it is possible that the refugees who have settled near the border will leave the besieged area and turn towards Egypt.

The Associated Press, The New York Times and other media reported on Friday, citing satellite images, that the land had been cleared and a wall was going up. Egyptian officials have declined to discuss the project’s purpose, but reports suggest the area could be a “fortified buffer zone” to house Gazans fleeing a planned Israeli military operation in the Palestinian border town of Rafah.

Construction work began earlier this month, as the Israeli military (IDF) announced preparations for a ground assault on Rafah, the last refuge of the Gazans. Since the beginning of the war in October 2023, about 1.4 million people of Gaza have sought shelter in Rafah. According to estimates by local health officials, the Israeli army razed many of the besieged areas to the ground while searching for Hamas fighters, killing nearly 29,000 people.

Cairo asked Israel not to force Palestinian refugees to enter Egypt. However, with Palestinian refugees piling up in Rafah, the Egyptian side is apparently preparing for the possibility of a humanitarian crisis that could jeopardize its 1979 peace agreement with Israel. Rafah has been the target of airstrikes by the Zionist regime in recent days and hundreds of people were martyred.

The New York Times, quoting an anonymous contractor, reported that the wall was ordered by the Egyptian army and will close a five-kilometer area in the buffer zone near the southern border of Gaza. It will be about five meters (16 feet) high.