Sinai’s Rising Walls Close on 1.5 Million Palestinians in Rafah

On Feb. 14, the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights released information on state-sanctioned construction occurring in Eastern Sinai. The report revealed that construction work is intended to build “a gated area surrounded by 7-meter-high walls” meant to contain over 100,000 people in the event that Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) forcibly expel Palestinians from Gaza into the Sinai Desert. 

Satellite photos and video of the Sinai show the construction of a wall along the Rafah-Egypt crossing. Reports claim the construction site “is surrounded by concrete walls and far from any Egyptian settlements. Large numbers of tents have been delivered to the site.” It appears like Egypt is preparing to receive an influx of Palestinians who are currently under siege near the Rafah crossing.

Since Oct. 7, Palestinians in Gaza have been experiencing a genocide and humanitarian crisis that wreaked catastrophe in their lives, including experiencing constant displacement and loss of family, home, and livelihoods. Euro-Med Monitor reports that 100,000 Palestinians have either been murdered, missing, or wounded. Over 1.3 million Palestinians have been displaced to Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city bordering Egypt. Ordinarily, Rafah’s population is around 220,000, but due to Israel’s annihilation campaign in Gaza, the governorate now holds 1.5 million Palestinians, 80% of whom are living in tents.

Rafah was designated a so-called “safe zone” by Israel, which prompted Palestinians from across the Strip to flee toward it. Except, Rafah, like the entirety of Gaza, is not safe. The border city has experienced aerial bombardment almost daily since the start of Israel’s extermination campaign. For instance, the video and photo of seven-year-old Sidra Hassouna’s lifeless and mangled body was shared on social media last week after Israel’s most recent carpet-bombing of Rafah.

On Feb. 11, Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the IOF would prepare for a ground invasion of Rafah. Gaza has been made uninhabitable by Israel’s bombardment and siege, but a ground invasion into Rafah would escalate matters even further. In an interview with Al Jazeera, displaced Palestinians shared the direness of their situation. Assaad Hassan, for example, said, “We have nowhere else to go but to the grave if they carry out their threats to invade Rafah.” 

In an interview with Democracy Now, Noura Erakat called the potential of a ground invasion in Rafah, along with pushing a portion of Gaza’s population into Egypt’s buffer zone, the “worst-case scenario,” as it would permanently lock Palestinians into a state of no return, just as it did Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. With 1.5 million people crammed into a tiny city, the death toll would be cataclysmic.