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Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the border. On the Israeli side, the cross-border fighting has killed 10 civilians and 12 soldiers, while in Lebanon, more than 350 people have been killed, including 50 civilians and 271 Hezbollah members.Meantime, Israel has been conducting near-daily raids on Rafah, a city in which more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have sought refuge.The Israeli military has massed dozens of tanks and armored vehicles in an area of southern Israel that is close to Rafah, in apparent preparations for an invasion of the city.Rafah also abuts the Gaza-Egypt border. While in Israel, Kamel, who heads Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, plans to make clear that Egypt “will not tolerate” Israel’s deployments of troops along that border, the Egyptian official said.The official said Egypt shared intelligence with the United States and European countries showing that a Rafah offensive would inflame the entire region.A Western diplomat in Cairo also said that Egypt has intensified its efforts in recent days to reach a compromise and establish a short cease-fire in Gaza that will help negotiate a longer truce and avert a Rafah offensive.The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss the developments.On Wednesday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi cautioned that an Israeli attack on Rafah would have “catastrophic consequences on the humanitarian situation in the strip, as well as the regional peace and security.”El-Sissi’s comments came in a phone call with Prime Minister Mark Rutte of The Netherlands, the Egyptian leader’s office said.Egypt has also said an attack on Rafah would violate the decades-old peace deal between Egypt and Israel.
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Egypt sends delegation to Israel, its latest effort to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas
