https://thecradle.co/articles/egypt-demands-us-send-clear-message-to-israel-over-rafah-invasion
Egypt’s foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, said on 18 March that the US should send a clear message to Israel as to what the consequences of a military incursion into Rafah would be.
This plea by Shoukry follows Washington's request that Tel Aviv limit its operations in southern Gaza’s Rafah near the Egyptian border.
“It is not enough for rhetoric, it is not enough to state opposition, it is also important to indicate what if that position is circumvented, what if that position is not respected,” Shoukry said at a news briefing with UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini in Cairo.
“It is also up to the international community and the United States, who have indicated their refusal to such an eventuality, to make clear what are the consequences if their appeals are not heeded,” Shoukry continued.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the Israeli army would storm Rafah, reaffirming that Israel would “operate in Rafah. This will take several weeks, and it will happen.” Netanyahu did not clarify whether the operation in Rafah would last several weeks or take several weeks to prepare.
Allies have stood against the move, pressuring Netanyahu not to proceed with his plan of invading the southern Gazan city where more than a million Palestinians have been internally displaced.
Meanwhile, Egypt has been constructing an “isolated security zone” in the eastern Sinai desert in what local rights groups claim is Cairo's anticipation of an influx of Palestinian refugees if they are led to be pushed out of Rafah.