Egypt builds 'refugee camp on Rafah border amid fears of imminent Israeli assault

Egypt has begun building an enclosed area ringed with high concrete walls along its border with Gaza that appears intended to house Palestinians fleeing a threatened Israeli assault on the city of Rafah.

- Ruth Michaelson

Photos and videos released by the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights (SFHR), a monitoring group, show workers using heavy machinery to build concrete barriers and security towers around a strip of land on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing.

The videos, dated 15 February, gave little indication of authorities installing water or other infrastructure. Satellite imagery released by Planet Labs on the same day shows cleared strips of land adjacent to the Gaza border. 

SFHR said on social media that the videos showed efforts to "establish an isolated area surrounded by walls on the border with the Gaza Strip, with the aim of receiving refugees in the event of a mass exodus".

Israel's bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza since Hamas's 7 October attacks have displaced an estimated 1.7 million people internally, according to the UN, most of them pushed south in recent weeks, with more than a million in Rafah, vastly swelling its prewar population of 280,000.

Egyptian officials have repeatedly expressed alarm that Israel's actions could force millions of Palestinians to attempt to flee across the border and into the Sinai, amid concern that those displaced may never be able to return.