[1/4]A Palestinian in a wheelchair walks past ruins of buildings destroyed in Israeli attacks in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on October 9, 2023. Portal/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa acquires license rights
- The Rafah border crossing is the main gateway to the outside world for Gazans
- Egypt fears an Israeli attack will lead to displacement
- Israel has revised the recommendation for people to move south
- Sisi calls Gaza escalation “highly dangerous”
CAIRO/GAZA, Oct 10 (Portal) – Egypt is trying to prevent a mass exodus from the Gaza Strip to the Sinai Peninsula after Israeli bombings on Tuesday halted border crossings at the main exit point from the Palestinian enclave, Gaza officials and Egyptians reported Security sources said.
Israel’s attack on Gaza has sparked concern in Egypt, which has pushed Israel to allow civilians safe passage out of the enclave rather than encouraging them to flee southwest toward Sinai, two Egyptian security sources said.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Tuesday that the escalation in Gaza was “highly dangerous” and that Egypt was seeking a negotiated solution to the violence with regional and international partners.
Egypt would not allow the matter to be resolved at the expense of others, Sisi said in comments reported by state news agency MENA – an apparent reference to the danger that Palestinians could be pushed into Sinai.
The Egyptian military has taken up new positions near the border and is patrolling to monitor the area, said Ahmed Salem of the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights.
Rafah is the only possible border crossing into Sinai for Gaza’s 2.3 million residents. The rest of the densely populated strip is surrounded by sea and by Israel, which has announced a total siege of Gaza and could launch a ground offensive.
The passage of people and goods in and out of Gaza is strictly controlled under a blockade imposed by Egypt and Israel since 2007.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli military revised the recommendation of one of its spokesmen that Palestinians fleeing airstrikes in Gaza should flee to Egypt.
Israel has hit Gaza with the fiercest attacks in the 75-year history of its conflict with the Palestinians since Hamas launched a deadly incursion into Israel on Saturday.
INTERMEDIARY ROLE
Egypt, the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, has mediated between Israeli and Palestinian factions in previous conflicts in Gaza and pushed to prevent further escalation in the current fighting.
Gaza’s Hamas-run interior ministry said the bombings on Monday and Tuesday hit an entrance gate on the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing. The border crossing was also closed from the Egyptian side and Palestinians planning to travel to Gaza retreated to the capital Al Arish in North Sinai, according to Egyptian sources.
The latest strike follows a similar incident on Monday that partially disrupted operations at the border, although Egyptian security sources said access for registered travelers and humanitarian activities had been restored on Tuesday morning.
According to the UN Humanitarian Office, around 800 people left the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing on Monday and around 500 people entered, although the crossing was closed to the movement of goods.
North Sinai’s governor met with local authorities on Monday to plan for any crises arising from events in Gaza, his office said. So far there have been no signs of mass gatherings of Palestinians at the Rafah border crossing, with only scheduled departures taking place until Tuesday.
In 2008, tens of thousands of Palestinians crossed Sinai after Hamas blew holes in a border wall.
Security in the Rafah area is also a concern for Egypt, as Sinai was the site of an Islamist insurgency a decade ago.
Since then, the Egyptian military has largely maintained its control over northern Sinai and has faced sporadic attacks there. Israeli tourism in southern Sinai had increased after security improved on the peninsula, but thousands of Israeli tourists returned home after fighting over Gaza began.
Reporting by Ahmed Mohamed Hassan, Yusri Mohamed and Nidal al-Mughrabi; Additional reporting by Nadine Awadalla, Ahmed Eliman, Aidan Lewis and Mai Shams Eldin; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Alison Williams, Gareth Jones, Susan Fenton and Nick Macfie
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