Israel's ceaseless bombardment of Gaza, starving its population of over 2.3 million, and cutting off electricity, water and basic goods, including medicine, threatens to create a humanitarian so dire that Palestinians living there will be forced to seek refuge outside the enclave.
However, they are effectively imprisoned as only two border crossings — one with Israel and one with Egypt — are closed. They are not only blockaded by land but also by air and sea.
So where exactly are they supposed to go? It seems their only hope is the Rafah border crossing with Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, which shares a 12-kilometre border with Gaza.
Despite broad sympathy for the Palestinian cause across Egyptian society, many are against opening the border. While a mass exodus of Palestinians from Gaza would be a dream for Israel, Egyptians worry this could reverse their hard-won gains in the desert region.
Egyptian MPs have firmly rejected the idea, and al-Azhar — the highest seat of Sunni Islam — advised Palestinians "to stay in their homes and die as heroes", rather than leave it behind to be taken over by Israel.
Egypt reacts to cryptic comment
But a cryptic comment by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Gazans "to leave" has raised eyebrows in Cairo over what exactly he meant.
On his part, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi vowed that his country would not bear the brunt of the repercussions of any failure of the so-called Palestinian peace process, which claims to be working towards a two-state solution and a Palestinian homeland.
"Egypt's national security is my top priority," the Egyptian leader said on 10 October.
"There cannot be any compromise on Egyptian security under any condition," he said while attending a graduation ceremony of a new group of police cadets in Cairo.
But as calls to issue safe passage for Gaza civilians under Israeli bombardment intensified, el-Sisi spoke out again two days later on 12 October, saying that Palestinians in Gaza must “stay steadfast and remain on their land”.
He said Egypt was already hosting “nine million guests, as I call them, from many countries who came to Egypt for security and safety.”
But the case of Gazans “is different”, he said, because their displacement would mean “the elimination of the (Palestinian) cause.”
But the next day, 13 October, Israel’s military directed the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of civilians living in Gaza City ahead of a feared Israel ground offensive.
The directive came on the heels of what the United Nations said was a warning they received from Israel to evacuate 1.1 million people living north of Gaza within 24 hours.
