Egypt asks Israel to avoid bombing Rafah crossing

In a statement put out by the Egyptian foreign ministry, officials asked Israel not to target the Palestinian side of the crossing with Egypt’s Sinai, saying that it was preventing normal operations.

The statement comes as Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi called for more humanitarian aid to be supplied to the besieged territory.

Egypt is keen to avoid an influx of refugees into its Sinai peninsula. In previous conflicts, such as during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and the 1967 war, Palestinians were expelled from their homes within historic Palestine and the vast majority were never allowed back.

Many of these refugees and their descendants remain in neighbouring Arab states.