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The construction and patrolling of the road could prevent a million people from returning north from towns like Rafah (shown).Credit:Maxar Technologies via AP

Footage aired in Israel on the weekend by local broadcaster Channel 14 claimed Israeli combat engineers were working to widen the road to make it more useable by the military by destroying houses and other infrastructure. A military spokesman declined to comment to theJournal on the report.

Israel has said it also wants to establish a one-kilometre-wide buffer zone on its border with the Gaza Strip as a defensive measure that they say could prevent a repeat of the October 7 Hamas attack. The plan that has been met with international objection.

Earlier this month UN human rights chief Volker Turk accused the Israeli military of bulldozing civilian infrastructure to create the buffer zone and said it may be a war crime. A senior Israeli military official denied this:“Our operations along the border are aimed at exposing tunnels. This is not related to a buffer zone at this time”.

The United States has repeatedly warned Israel against any permanent change to Palestinian territory.

A backhoe removes sand barriers to create a buffer zone near entrances to tunnels in Rafah,along the Egyptian border.Credit:AP

The revamped road would be patrolled by the Israeli military and used by its forces until its operations in Gaza were completed,Israeli military sources told theJournal. It could also prevent the return of Gazans who fled to the south of the enclave at the instruction of Israel ahead of its north ground offensive.

Satellite images last week also revealed that Egypt is building a wall and levelling land near its border with the Gaza Strip ahead of Israel’s planned ground offensive against the border city of Rafah.

Egypt,which has not publicly acknowledged the construction,has repeatedly warned Israel not to forcibly expel more than one million displaced Palestinians now in Rafah into its territory.

Israel’s defence minister said his country had “no intention” of pushing Palestinian civilians across the border into Egypt. However,the preparations on the Egyptian side of the border in the Sinai Peninsula suggested that Cairo is preparing for such a mass ejection,a scenario that could threaten the Arab country’s 1979 peace deal with Israel that’s been a linchpin for regional security.

Satellite images of the construction of a new walled-off buffer zone on the Egyptian side of the Gaza border in Rafah.Credit:AP

In the latest Israeli strikes across Gaza,at least 67 Palestinians were killed including in areas where civilians have been told to seek refuge.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah says it received 44 bodies after multiple strikes in central Gaza. Bodies were seen arriving in ambulances and private vehicles.

The aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres said two people were also killed when a shelter housing staff in the Gaza Strip was struck during an Israeli operation in an area where Palestinians have been told to seek shelter.

The attack took place in al-Muwasi,a sandy,mostly undeveloped strip of land along the coast that has been transformed into a sprawling tent camp with little in the way of basic services.

A person inspects their damaged home following Israeli air strikes in Rafah,Gaza.Credit:Getty

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7,killing some 1200 people and taking around 250 hostages.

About a quarter of some 130 captives still being held are believed to be dead.

Israel has laid waste to much of the Palestinian territory in response.

Gaza’s Health Ministry estimates more than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed.

A makeshift tent camp where Palestinians displaced by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip are living.Credit:AP

AP,Bloomberg

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