Can Egypt be persuaded to accept Gazan refugees?
The country’s economic vulnerability offers leverage
A dusty, scuffed slab of concrete is the last hope that many Gazans have of escaping the nightmare which will accompany Israel’s coming ground assault. Cut off from electricity, food imports and water, and under constant bombardment, more than 2,000 people have already been killed and nearly half the population displaced. Gaza’s inhabitants are flooding roads to the south after an Israeli warning to clear the north. Yet the Rafah gate, which punctures the 11km-long wall separating southern Gaza from Egypt, and is the only non-Israeli route out of the territory, has been closed since October 7th, when Hamas launched its brutal attack on Israel.
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