A wall is going up in the desert of Egypt near the border of the war-torn Gaza Strip, but no one is talking much about it.

Satellite imagery, photographs and video analysed by The New York Times show a large patch of land being bulldozed and the wall being built in the buffer zone between Egypt and Rafah, the southern Gaza city overflowing with more than 1 million displaced Palestinians that Israeli forces are poised to invade.

The satellite imagery clearly shows newly graded land south of the Rafah border crossing. An analysis of the satellite images indicated that the work began around February 5.

But the Egyptian government, which has looked on with concern as Gaza residents displaced by the war between Israel and Hamas mass in Rafah, has declined to discuss the new construction. A spokesperson for the government would only refer to statements by the government in recent weeks highlighting its fortification of the border.

It was not clear whether the structure might be intended to hold Gaza residents who crossed the border, but if it was used that way, it would be a major reversal of Egypt’s stance.

A contractor and an engineer who was interviewed by the Times and provided photos said they had been commissioned by the Egyptian army to build a 5-metre-high concrete wall to close off a 5-square-kilometre plot of land at the site. They said they began work on February 5 and started on the wall two days ago.

The contractor and the engineer spoke on the condition of anonymity, saying they feared reprisals. Egyptian authorities heavily restrict information coming from the border area. Since October, when a Hamas-led attack on Israel led to immense Israeli military retaliation in Gaza, Egypt has repeatedly rebuffed any suggestion that it takes in some of the Gaza residents.

New York Times News Service