The 8-square-mile facility would be used to stem a new influx of displaced Palestinians into the Sinai Desert and create a refugee camp that could hold up to 100,000 people. Satellite images show details of the work, but Cairo denies this
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Egyptian authorities are reportedly building an 8-square-mile wall in the Sinai Desert near the border. Egyptian officials and security analysts reported this to the Wall Street Journal (ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR, LIVE UPDATES). The underlying fear is that a further Israeli military push into southern Gaza could trigger a wave of refugees. For weeks, Egypt has tried to increase security along the border to keep Palestinians out, deploying soldiers and armored vehicles and reinforcing fences.
Satellite images of the construction of the wall – ©Getty
The wall on the border with Gaza
As the Ynet news site reports, citing statements from Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers stationed in the region, hundreds of Palestinian workers from the West Bank are apparently working in Israel to help build the new barrier along the border with the Gaza Strip. Gaza, even though the Israeli security cabinet has forbidden him to do so. According to Ynet, Palestinian workers are engaged in engineering work on breakthroughs in the fence, which was damaged in dozens of places at the start of the war against Hamas. Israel's Defense Ministry responded to the reports by saying that only four Palestinians are working on the project, stating that it hires contractors “in accordance with security guidelines, classification and sensitivity of the work” and that the workers are drawn from a group of Palestinian workers was granted “approval to work on essential projects” for Israel.
Satellite images of the construction of the wall – ©Getty
Emergency plan to contain the displaced population
The huge new complex is part of contingency plans in case large numbers of refugees from Gaza manage to enter. More than 100,000 people could be housed in the new camp surrounded by concrete walls, Egyptian officials said, adding that a large number of tents that had not yet been erected had also been delivered to the site.
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Cairo's rejection
Cairo has been trying for weeks to prevent a wave of refugees from flowing across the Egyptian borders and, following the offensive against Hamas, is even threatening to terminate the decades-long peace treaty with Israel if that happens. The fact that Egypt is now moving forward with contingency plans signals that officials in Cairo are seeing this danger ever closer. The governor of North Sinai has denied reports of the construction of a refugee camp for Palestinians, saying the activity in the area is part of a project to inventory homes destroyed during Egypt's military campaign against Islamic State extremists in the area.
Egypt had also previously opposed any Israeli offensive in southern Gaza that could destabilize its border with Gaza. Egypt's Foreign Ministry spoke Sunday of the “serious consequences” of an Israeli military operation in Rafah and called on Israel to “refrain from taking measures that would further complicate the situation and invariably harm the interests of all parties involved.”
In-depth analysis
How many hostages in Gaza are still in the hands of Hamas?
THE SURVEY
- The majority of Italians believe that Hamas should accept the proposal of a two-month ceasefire in exchange for the release of the Israeli hostages and some Palestinian prisoners. This is what emerges from the latest survey by the research institute Quorum/YouTrend for Sky TG24, which also touches on the topics of the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, the Mattei plan, the role of the American elections in the conflict in the Middle East and the upcoming European vote
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WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST
- Italians remain very critical of Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip: 58% do not believe that Israel is exercising its right to self-defense and can bomb for as long as it deems necessary. In this context, center-right voters are divided. Only 20% of M5S and 16% of PD voters support Israel's measures
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USA AND MIDDLE EAST
- Italians are divided on the possible effectiveness of the victory of one of the two candidates for the presidency of the United States in bringing peace to the Middle East, and the relative majority (37%) do not know who could be more effective. There is a clear split in this perception based on the political vote: 66% of PD voters believe Biden's victory would be more effective. On the contrary: voters in the government majority believe that a Trump victory can more easily lead to pacification
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