As an Israeli assault on the southern Palestinian city of Rafah looms, Egypt’s foreign minister Sameh Shoukry has denied drawing up a contingency plan of an influx of Palestinian refugees.
Speaking at a panel of the Munich Security Conference the minister said “We will not deal with the hypothetical and we will continue to call upon all our friends, all of those who understand the complexities and the dangers associated with it, to not only provide support by rhetoric but to indicate clearly that there will be consequences for any form of displacement.”
Asked about reports of bulldozers and tanks on the border and walls being built in preparation for an influx, the minister said they have constantly been dealing with maintenance on the border.
Israel’s military offensive first targeted the north of the Gaza Strip forcing over a million Palestinians to flee south. The operation has since expanded, and the next stage appears to be Rafah.
Israel said it would work to develop a plan to evacuate civilians in Rafah. It is yet to make it public.
The government has not publicly discussed a timeline for a ground offensive on Rafah. More than half the enclave’s 2.3 million Palestinians have sought refuge in the southern city.
Egypt has repeatedly warned against the force displacement of Palestinian civilians. Five months into the war, Shoukry reiterated Cairo’s stance “It is not our intention to provide any safe areas or facilities, but necessarily if this was a case in a situation, we will deal with the humanity that is necessary and we will provide the support to the innocent civilians if that was to take place. But that should not be construed as an encouragement or an acceptance for an eventuality of this nature.”
Over 28,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
At the weekend, nearly 2,000 people marched through the streets of Jabaliya, in the largest refugee camp in Gaza, asking for food and medicine.
According to OCHA, since the start of 2024, humanitarian partners have planned 77 missions to deliver aid and undertake assessments to areas to the north of Wadi Gaza. Of those, only 12 were facilitated by Israeli authorities, with partial humanitarian objectives met for another three.
