Satellite photos show Egypt building wall near Gaza Strip amid rising tensions near Rafah

NEW DELHI:

Egypt

is constructing a

wall

and

levelling land

near its

border

with Gaza amid Israel's plans for a ground offensive in

Rafah

, as per

satellite images

analyzed by The Associated Press.
Egypt has not publicly acknowledged the

construction

and has cautioned Israel against forcibly expelling over 1 million displaced Palestinians into its territory.

Rafah, a city in the southern

Gaza Strip

, is likely to become a hotbed of conflict in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas after Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu

vowed a "powerful" operation in the city as civilians in the overcrowded part of the Strip were allowed to leave.
It is against the backdrop of this mass evacuation concern from Rafah, which would potentially push around one million displaced Palestinians towards the Eyptianian territories that Cario is building walls and levelling land near the Gaza border.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry on February 11 had issued a statement warning Israel over its possible Rafah offensive and its "displacement of the Palestinian people."
Cairo's construction of a border along Gaza could jeopardise the 1979 peace deal with Israel, which has severed as a vital element for regional security.
The Egyptian government has not responded to requests for comment Friday from the news agency.

The satellite images, taken Thursday by Maxar Technologies, show construction ongoing on the wall, which sits along the Sheikh Zuweid-Rafah Road some 3.5 kilometers (2 miles) west of the border with Gaza. The images show cranes, trucks and what appear to be precast concrete barriers being set up along the road, reported AP.
Those satellite images correspond to features seen in a video released by the London-based Sinai Foundation for Human Rights on February 12. The video shows a crane lifting concrete walls into place along the road.
Nearby as well, construction crews appear to be levelling and clearing ground for an unknown purpose. That can also be seen in imagery from Planet Labs PBC of the area. The Wall Street Journal, quoting anonymous Egyptian officials, described "an 8-square-mile (20-square-kilometer) walled enclosure" being built in the area that could accommodate over 100,000 people.
Israel's allies ruffled over Rafah
US President Joe Biden on Thursday told Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he should not proceed with military action in Rafah without a credible and executable plan to protect Palestinian civilians, the White House said.
The call between the two leaders on Thursday was the second time in less than a week that Biden warned Netanyahu about moving into the southern part of the Gaza Strip without a plan to ensure the safety of some 1 million people sheltering there.
The leaders of Canada, Australia and New Zealand on Thursday called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, according to a joint statement released in response to reports about Israel's planned military operation in Rafah.
"We are gravely concerned by indications that Israel is planning a ground offensive into Rafah. A military operation into Rafah would be catastrophic," the statement by the prime ministers of the three countries said.
"We will fight until complete victory and this includes a powerful action also in Rafah after we allow the civilian population to leave the battle zones," Netanyahu had said in a statement issued in Hebrew on his official Telegram account.
A few days ago, Hamas issued a warning that an attack on Rafah by the Israeli military could result in "tens of thousands" of dead and injured if Israel launched an attack on Rafah, located in the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip.
(With agencies inputs)