Egypt's foreign minister said on Saturday that while his country would deal with civilians humanely, the displacement of Palestinians remained unacceptable.
Sameh Shoukry
Egypt's foreign minister said on Saturday that while his country would deal with civilians humanely, the displacement of Palestinians remained unacceptable.
"It is not our intention to provide any safe areas or facilities, but necessarily if this was a case we will deal with the humanity that is necessary," Sameh Shoukry said at the Munich Security Conference.
Reuters reported on Friday that Egypt was preparing an area at the Gaza border which could accommodate Palestinians in case an Israeli military offensive into Rafah prompts an exodus across the frontier. Sources described this as a contingency move.
Egypt has repeatedly denied making such preparations.
"This is very hypothetical. We have constantly been dealing with maintenance on our border so I think it is jumping to conclusions to what those activities constitute," Shoukry said of construction activity seen around the border.
Separately, the governor of North Sinai said on Saturday that the armed forces are establishing a logistics zone to receive aid for Gaza.
The area being established includes parking areas for trucks, warehouses, administrative offices, and accommodation for drivers, the governor said.
Egypt has repeatedly raised the alarm over the possibility that Israel's devastating Gaza offensive could displace Palestinians into Sinai - something Cairo says would be completely unacceptable- echoing warnings from Arab states such as Jordan.
Reporting by Jon Irish
Moroccan authorities granted provisional release to rapper El Mahdi Lyoubi, known by his stage name Mehdi Black Wind, after three weeks in detention. He remains under prosecution for "offending state institutions," his lawyers told AFP.
Migrants who swam or jumped over fences to rush into Spain's African enclave of Ceuta this week were returning home on Saturday, with many saying hunger, exhaustion and hostility from locals had crushed their hopes of a new life in Europe.
Spain said on Friday it had reversed a huge rush of migrants into a Spanish enclave in North Africa, with most of the more than 50,000 people who had crossed the border by land and sea already heading back voluntarily.
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