Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz confirmed on Friday in Munich that Tel Aviv will coordinate with Cairo ahead of the military operation in Rafah, in the far south of the Gaza Strip.

During the Munich Security Conference held in southern Germany, Israel Katz said: “Egypt is our ally... We have a peace agreement with Egypt and we will work in a way that does not harm Egyptian interests,” as he put it.

Kats added that the military operation would take place “after coordination with Egypt,” explaining that Israel would “notify” US President Joe Biden of the military attack.

According to the Wall Street Journal and an Egyptian non-governmental organization, Cairo is preparing a fenced camp in the Sinai Peninsula in anticipation of the possibility of receiving Palestinian refugees from the Gaza Strip who may flee the war in the event of an Israeli attack on Rafah, located on the Palestinian border.

The Wall Street Journal reported that this camp is part of “emergency plans” to receive these refugees after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an imminent military attack on Rafah, and it could shelter “more than 100,000 people.”

North Sinai Governor Mohamed Shousha denied that Egypt was preparing a “buffer zone in Sinai” to receive refugees, stressing that the ongoing work aimed to “inventory the homes destroyed during the war on terrorism in order to provide appropriate compensation to the owners of these homes.”

Palestinian leaders, the United Nations and many countries have expressed concern about the catastrophic consequences for the population of such an attack and condemned the creation of a new generation of refugees with no hope of return.