An Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman said that any Israeli military operation near the border with Egypt “poses a danger” to a large number of people.
Men shovel water from the entrance to a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) that houses displaced Palestinians in Rafah, southern Gaza, February 8, 2024 (Photo by Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images)
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday that the Israeli ground attack on the city of Rafah, located in the far south of the Gaza Strip, “poses risks” and “makes a displacement scenario possible,” which Egypt rejects.
Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said: “There is no doubt that targeting this area of Gaza, filled with such a large number of civilians, constitutes a danger. This is very different from if these citizens lived in a larger or more spacious area.” In an interview with Al-Ghad TV.
Abu Zeid did not respond directly to the broadcaster's question about whether Israeli operations on the border between Gaza and Egypt could affect the peace treaty with Israel, but he warned that these operations pose a danger to large numbers of people.
“This axis is part of Gaza, and it is part of the Palestinian territories in Gaza, and any dealings with this area are done with extreme caution, because it is close to the Egyptian border… and any operation there would be of such a large number.” “The people there pose risks,” he said.
“We are talking about an area in southern Gaza that was inhabited by 300,000 Palestinians,” Abu Zeid said. He added: “Today there are 1.5 or 1.4 million. We are talking about an area crowded with citizens living in very difficult humanitarian conditions.”
An estimated one million people are crammed into a tent city in southern Gaza. Although Rafah has suffered months of air strikes by Israeli forces, the planned new ground campaign raises fears of more bloodshed.
It also raises fears of crowds flowing into Egypt, adjacent to the city of Rafah, to escape the war, a possibility that Egypt and other countries have categorically rejected, considering that any attempt to displace Gaza residents is a red line that should not be crossed. .
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