Egypt Threatens Suspension Of Peace Treaty If Israel Invades Rafah
Egyptian officials warned their Israeli counterparts that any Israeli ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah "would effectively suspend" the 1979 peace treaty between the two countries, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on 11 February.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Friday that an Israeli ground operation in Rafah, located on Egypt's border and where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are living in tents, was necessary to destroy the four brigades of Hamas' armed wing allegedly present there.
"There is limited space and great risk in putting Rafah under further military escalation due to the growing number of Palestinians there," Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Saturday during a press briefing, warning that an escalation would have "dire consequences."