Egypt prepares land for Palestinian refugees Despite official Cairo's denial

The Egyptians are preparing an area near the Gaza border to accommodate large numbers of refugees if the IDF launches a large-scale operation in Rafah, NEWSru.co.il reported, citing the arabworld301 Telegram channel.

The publication is supported by Maxar satellite imagery.

The pictures show that technical equipment is clearing a large area. It is possible that tents are being erected to temporarily house refugees from Gaza.

Official Cairo continues to say that it is not prepared to receive masses of Gazans and denies that Sinai is being prepared to receive those leaving Rafah.

On 15 February, Sinai for Human Rights reported that a camp is being built in eastern Sinai to receive Palestinian refugees in the event of a mass exodus from Gaza and a breach of the border. The camp will be surrounded by a seven-metre-high concrete wall. Work is being carried out on the site where houses in the Egyptian part of Rafah town were recently destroyed during the military campaign against Wilayat Sinai, the Egyptian branch of Islamic State. The contractors are companies close to the Egyptian regime. The current phase involves the removal of rubble from demolished buildings. This part of the work and the levelling of the site alone will take 10 days.

Researcher Muhammad Sabry, a specialist in Egyptian and Sinai security, notes that it is unlikely that work of this magnitude would have begun without the approval of Israel and the US. In his opinion, this means that Egypt is ready to receive refugees.