Egypt builds camp in Gaza to ward off refugee surge into Sinaihttps://en.majalla.com/node/307631/politics/egypt-builds-camp-gaza-ward-refugee-surge-sinai
The Egyptian Red Crescent — Egypt's largest humanitarian relief aid organisation — is now constructing a massive refugee camp in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
Located in the western part of the city, the camp will accommodate thousands of families displaced from northern and central Gaza into the southern part of the war-torn Palestinian territory.
The first phase of the camp is now complete, containing 300 tents which should house up to 1,500 people.
Red Crescent workers are racing against time to pitch hundreds of other tents, with a plan for the camp to accommodate over 6,000 displaced Gaza residents.
The camp seems to be Egypt's answer to Israel's plan to pressure Gaza's population of over 2.3 million people to leave the coastal enclave and spill into the Sinai voluntarily, the northeastern Egyptian territory which shares borders with Israel and the Gaza Strip.
To depopulate Gaza, Israel pounds everything of value in the 45-square-kilometre territory: its homes, hospitals, schools, government institutions, mosques and churches.
Almost 90% of the population of the territory's northern and central parts has been forced to flee to safety in its southern part, a few kilometres away from the Egyptian border. Even there, relentless Israeli attacks kill many civilians, reminding them that nowhere is safe in Gaza.
Israel's relentless bombardment of Gaza has not only created a nightmare for Palestinians but also for Egypt, which fears a refugee surge due to the lack of safety, food, water and medical care.
Almost 90% of the population of the territory's northern and central parts has been forced to flee to safety in its southern part, a few kilometres away from the Egyptian border.
Closely watching
Egypt has been closely watching the Gaza tragedy unfold from the very beginning, realising the serious repercussions the Israeli operation in the territory would have on it.
The fact that the conflict is morphing into a regional showdown between Israel, on the one hand, and groups backing Gaza's factions, on the other, promises to have devastating consequences for the Egyptian economy.
Israel's plan to depopulate Gaza, which is outlined in repeated remarks by Israeli officials and secret exchanges between Tel Aviv and Western capitals, is adding another dimension to the war in this Palestinian territory, one that is directly affecting Egypt's national security.
The displacement of Gaza's population into Sinai will be disastrous to Egypt on many counts, most notably by putting the fate of this part of Egypt — almost 6% of the Arab country's total space — in peril.
If they end up resettling in Sinai, Palestinian factions could stage attacks against Israel from Egyptian territory.
In October last year, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi expressed concern that this would put Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel in jeopardy.
Egypt is also fearful that the resettlement of Gaza's residents in the Sinai will revive Islamist militancy in it, which might wreck the gains the Arab country has scored in its fight against a branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in Sinai so far.
If they reemerge, Islamist groups can easily threaten navigation in the Suez Canal, a maritime passageway of vital importance for world trade and the Egyptian economy.
Unwavering rejection
Egypt has been trying to rally international diplomatic opinion against the displacement of the residents of Gaza.
The Egyptian president raises the issue of this displacement with every international government official he meets, either in Cairo or outside, and he seems to have succeeded in building international consensus against it.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (L) addresses a press conference with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cario on October 18, 2023.
Several Western officials have spoken against this displacement, including US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Egypt's political and diplomatic response to Israel's Gaza depopulation plan has also been couched in indirect military threats.
A military parade of the Egyptian army's 4th Armoured Division near the Suez Canal in late October last year showed the high combat readiness of the Egyptian military, especially within a division stationed only kilometres away from Sinai.
A month later, the Egyptian minister of defence highlighted the perilous nature of developments in Gaza and their effects on Egyptian national security.
He described the escalation in Gaza as 'uncalculated'.
The army chief's comments came at the opening of EDEX, Egypt's largest arms exhibition, during which local arms manufacturers paraded a wide range of locally-made weapons.
Egypt has been trying to rally international diplomatic opinion against the displacement of the residents of Gaza.
Inspiring model
Egypt must have coordinated with Israel over the establishment of the humanitarian refugee camp established in western Khan Younis. The Egyptian Red Crescent says it will be responsible for providing all the necessities to the people seeking shelter in the camp.
"We will provide the food, water and medicines needed for the people coming to live in the camp," Dr Khaled Zayed, the head of the Egyptian Red Crescent in North Sinai, told Al Majalla.
He revealed that displaced residents of northern and central Gaza have already started trickling into the new camp — the first organised one to be established in Gaza since the beginning of Israeli attacks on the strip.
The Egyptian Red Crescent has been coordinating the entry of humanitarian relief aid into Gaza from Egypt since the beginning of the Israeli onslaught in October last year.
There is hope in Cairo, meanwhile, that the success of the camp in providing a safe temporary presence for the residents of Gaza until the end of Israeli military operations will embolden other countries to establish their own camps there.
The presence of similar camps where the majority of Gaza's residents are given accommodation and protection from the biting cold of the winter and the hunger and thirst will sabotage Israeli plans to drive them out of it, observers in Cairo say.
Steering clear
Since the beginning of the Israeli onslaught on Gaza in early October last year, Egypt has been trying to stave off a refugee crisis at its border.
In October last year, el-Sisi suggested that Israel move the residents of Gaza to the Negev until the end of Israeli military operations.
Egypt has also been trying to enter as much humanitarian aid as possible into the Palestinian territory.
Cairo has succeeded, meanwhile, in rallying the international community behind the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
A man lifts a placard near tents set up by volunteers and NGO workers along the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, demanding clearance for an aid convoy to enter the Gaza Strip, on October 19, 2023.
Nevertheless, Israel continues to place obstacles to the amount of aid getting in and only 10% of what is actually entering, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
"Israel is trying to impose a status quo by forcing the residents of Gaza to leave for Sinai," Emad Gad, a researcher at Egyptian think tank al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, told Al Majalla.
El-Sisi has repeatedly advised the residents of Gaza to stay put and not leave their land. If they leave, he said in October, Israel will not allow them back in, which would deal a decisive blow to the Palestinian cause.
El-Sisi has warned that a depopulation of Gaza will embolden Israel to pursue a similar model for the occupied West Bank, which would end the Palestinian statehood dream once and for all.
Nevertheless, Egypt might find it difficult to sustain the people who will trickle into its refugee camp in Khan Younis, especially given Egypt's dire economic crisis. This is why it needs Arab and international support to succeed, analysts said.
"Arab countries should help Egypt as it tries to beat back Israel's depopulation plan," Gad said.
"The US also needs to offer support, given its leverage over decision-making in Tel Aviv," he added.
