MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/. The Palestinians will not leave the Gaza Strip for the so-called camps in Egypt, Palestinian Ambassador to Russia Abdel Hafiz Nofal told TASS.

"Palestinians are not going to leave Gaza. They will not go to the border. They will never go to Egypt’s camps. They will be staying on their land," he said.

The ambassador added that Egypt had not talked with Palestine about such camps.

"Both we and the Egyptians will not agree to that," he concluded.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said in an interview with CNN on October 17 that Cairo was ready to let humanitarian aid for Gazans go through the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border, but had no plans to accommodate refugees from Gaza. Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported citing sources that Egypt suggested setting up refugee camps in the Palestinian settlement of Rafah. According to the newspaper, the camps would be located three kilometers away from the Egyptian border and would be controlled from Cairo.

Tensions flared up in the Middle East after Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip attacked Israeli territory on October 7, when many Israelis living in the settlements near the border were killed and more than 200 people, including children, women and the elderly, were taken hostage. Hamas views its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ steps against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.