New mini Gaza?

Media report: Egypt builds large reception camp

People in Rafah try to buy bread at a bakery.

(Bild: AFP)

Israel's announced offensive in Rafah is apparently having its first consequences. According to media reports, Egypt is preparing for a mass exodus from the Gaza Strip. The government is therefore having a huge camp built in the Sinai desert - surrounded by high concrete walls.

More than 100,000 people could be accommodated in tents in the camp, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing Egyptian officials and security analysts.

For weeks, Egypt has been trying to increase security along the border with the Gaza Strip with soldiers, fences and armored vehicles to prevent a rush of desperate Palestinians to the Sinai Peninsula. The planned camp is part of an emergency plan in the event that a large number of Palestinians manage to escape.

People in Rafah try to buy bread at a bakery.

(Bild: AFP)

Denial from Egypt
The governor of Egypt's North Sinai region on Thursday denied initial reports of the construction of a potential refugee camp for Palestinians, saying the activity in the area was part of an inventory of homes destroyed in the area during Egypt's past military campaign against Islamic State extremists. "This has no basis in truth," the head of the state information service also said in response to the New Yorker newspaper's report.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had recently ordered his country's military to present plans for an offensive in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, which borders Egypt, and for the evacuation of civilians there. The aim is to destroy the last Hamas combat units.

The world's largest impasse
According to the UN, there are around 1.3 million people in Rafah. Most of them fled there from other parts of the Gaza Strip before the war, in some cases on the orders of the Israeli military. In the event of a major influx of Palestinians from Gaza, Egypt would ideally try to limit the number of refugees to around 50,000 to 60,000. This is roughly equivalent to the population of Villach. However, the new desert camp with an area of around 20 square kilometers could actually accommodate more than 100,000, the newspaper reported.

 The planned camp is located far away from Egyptian settlements, it said. A large number of tents had already been brought there, but had not yet been set up, the newspaper quoted Egyptian officials as saying.

Criticism of planned offensive
Israel's planned military offensive in Rafah is meeting with growing international criticism. According to the "Wall Street Journal", Egypt has allegedly even threatened to terminate its peace treaty with Israel if there is a rush of Palestinians from Gaza across the border.

Should Israel decide to go on the offensive, the military would attempt to relocate the civilian population to the north - out of the combat zone but within the Gaza Strip, the newspaper quoted a senior representative of the Israeli military as saying.