Egypt’s North Sinai governorate refuted reports surrounding the establishment of a refugee camp near the Rafah border with Gaza in a website press release on 17 February. The report, first circulated by the Wall Street Journal, showcases satellite imagery of recent construction along the Egyptian side of the Rafah border amid concerns over an Israeli offensive that forces a refugee crisis. The article also claimed that the construction zone could accommodate around 100,000 Palestinian refugees. The North Sinai governorate’s statement clarified that the ongoing land construction is intended to create a new logistics zone for managing incoming humanitarian relief. “[Governor Mohamed Shusha] noted that it is the armed forces that are constructing the logistics area in Rafah to ease burdens on drivers and congestion in Arish and roads, as well as facilitating the work of the Egyptian Red Crescent,” the governorate’s statement said. Egypt’s Chairman of the State Information Service (SIS) refuted claims of a refugee camp construction in a statement on the SIS’s Facebook page. “[Egypt’s government] rejects any forced or voluntary displacement of our Palestinian brothers from the Gaza Strip to outside it, especially to Egyptian lands as…
Egypt Denies Plans for Refugee Camp in North Sinai Amid Gaza Crisis
February 18, 2024
