Egypt is building an eight square mile enclosure in the Sinai Peninsula near the border with the Gaza Strip, with the hope of containing a potential flood of refugees from a coming Israeli offensive into Rafah, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Egypt, which is very worried about a mass stream of refugees crossing into its territory, initially made very threatening statements towards Israel, even threatening to consider the 1979 peace treaty null and void "if even one refugee" crosses the border.
Though they have backed down from this, Egypt is still very keen to keep Palestinians out, increasing the presence of its military forces in the border area and bolstering and reinforcing the fencing and physical obstacles along the border.
The Israeli government, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defense Minister Gallant, and war cabinet member Gantz have all stressed the importance of entering Rafah in strength and destroying Hamas forces and smuggling tunnels there, in keeping with their objective of collapsing Hamas military and governing power.
