Egypt's Refugee Enclosure

Egypt is building a walled camp in the Sinai Peninsula to receive Palestinians displaced from the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip.

The Wall Street Journal article, citing Egyptian officials and security analysts, comes after a rights group reported Egypt was preparing "a high-security gated and isolated area" to receive Palestinian refugees.

The Journal said Egyptian authorities are constructing an "eight-square-mile walled enclosure" on the Egyptian side of the border with Gaza.

Since the war between Israel and Hamas militants began in early October, Cairo has warned against the "forced displacement" of Palestinians into the Sinai desert.

But with 1.5 million displaced Palestinians pushed up against its border and no results from ceasefire talks, Egypt is establishing the compound as part of "contingency plans" that could accommodate "more than 100,000 people", the Journal said.

Fears of mass displacement have mounted with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's insistence that troops must push into Rafah, Gaza's southernmost point, to achieve "complete victory" over Hamas.

Palestinian leaders, the United Nations, Arab neighbors and Israeli allies including the United States have all warned about the impact on civilians of a Rafah offensive.

The Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, an Egyptian NGO, released a report this week that it said showed construction of the compound to receive Palestinian refugees "in the case of a mass exodus".

Satellite pictures taken of the area in northern Sinai, showing machinery building a wall along the Egypt-Gaza border. The area is highly secure and closed to journalists.

North Sinai governor Mohamed Shousha has denied Egypt is preparing "an isolated area in Sinai" to receive refugees.

The Sinai Foundation for Human Rights said two contractors told it construction firms had been tasked with building the gated area, "surrounded by seven-meter-high walls".