CAIRO, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Egypt on Friday denied reports that it is building shelters at its border area with the Gaza Strip to receive Palestinians in the event of forced displacement from the ongoing conflict.
In a statement, chairman of Egypt's State Information Service (SIS) Diaa Rashwan said Egypt categorically denied "what was reported by some international media" regarding Egypt's preparations to build shelters along its borders with Gaza to receive Palestinians feeling the conflict.
Rashwan stressed that Egypt rejects any forced or voluntary displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to its outside, especially to Egyptian territories.
He said that displacing the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip is a "certain liquidation of the Palestinian issue" and a direct threat to Egyptian sovereignty and national security.
"All Egyptian statements and remarks made it clear that it is a red line and that Cairo has the means to deal with it immediately and effectively," the Egyptian official said.
Rashwan also dismissed some international media reports that Egypt started to build a separation wall along its border with the Gaza Strip, noting that Egypt already had a buffer zone and fences in this region long before the outbreak of the current crisis in Gaza.
Egypt, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, has for years been a key regional peacemaker in the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict. ■
