Sameh Shukri: Contacts are continuing to establish a framework that allows for a truce (Reuters)

Today, Saturday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry warned of developments in the situation in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, adjacent to the Egyptian border, saying that they herald deterioration in the Strip and dire repercussions.

Shukri added - in a joint press conference with his Bulgarian counterpart, Maria Gabriel, in the Egyptian capital - that the humanitarian situation in Gaza cannot tolerate more destruction and casualties.

The Egyptian Foreign Minister confirmed that contacts are continuing to establish a framework that allows for a truce, noting that "the negotiations are complex, and each party seeks to achieve the greatest possible gains," and reiterated the demand for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Shukri added, "The developments in Rafah portend further deterioration in the Gaza Strip," noting that the humanitarian situation - already deteriorating - cannot tolerate more destruction and casualties.

Since the beginning of the ground operation launched by the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip on October 27, it has been asking residents to go from the north and center of the Strip to the south, claiming that they are safe areas, but it has not been spared from bombing homes and cars.

Until Friday, the ground operation reached Khan Yunis, and did not extend to Rafah, although the Israeli army carried out air strikes and extensive artillery shelling on sites in Rafah since the beginning of the war launched by the occupation in the Gaza Strip on October 7 last.

Egyptian security reinforcements

The Egyptian Foreign Minister's statements came while two Egyptian security sources said that Cairo sent about 40 tanks and armored personnel carriers to northeastern Sinai in the past two weeks, in anticipation of a military operation by the Israeli occupation in Rafah.

Egyptian forces were deployed before Israel expanded its military operations to include the city of Rafah (south of Gaza), to which most of the Gaza Strip's residents were displaced in search of a safe haven, which exacerbated Egypt's fears of the possibility of forcing the Palestinians to leave the Gaza en masse.

The Egyptian military moves come within the framework of a series of measures to enhance security on its borders with the Gaza Strip.

In developments, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that the Israeli army approved a military operation in Rafah. The newspaper said that preparations for the operation in Rafah began weeks ago, and the army has already approved a plan that includes the necessity of evacuating the displaced.

Warnings

Warnings continue of a massive humanitarian catastrophe if Israel invades the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, which is the last refuge for the displaced in the besieged Strip, and about 1,400,000 Palestinians currently live there, after the occupation army approved a military operation there yesterday.

The government media office in Gaza warned of a global catastrophe and massacre that could leave tens of thousands of martyrs and wounded if the occupation forces began a ground operation in the city to which they had ordered the residents of the Gaza Strip to flee since the start of the war on October 7.

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) also warned that the occupation would commit massacres in Rafah, which is crowded with displaced people living in harsh humanitarian conditions.

The Palestinian presidency indicated - in a statement - that the Israeli plans to invade Rafah are intended to displace the Palestinian people from their land, stressing that launching a military operation in the crowded city would cross all red lines, as it put it.

International concern is increasing over the fate of hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans who have taken refuge in Rafah since Israel threatened a ground invasion of the city located on the border with Egypt.

Washington said - on Thursday - that it would not support any Israeli military operation in Rafah without giving due consideration to the plight of civilians, and US President Joe Biden described Israel's response to Hamas attacks on October 7 as "exaggerated."

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies