Egypt to create buffer zone along Gaza border
Published today (updated) 28/10/2014 14:29
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=735841

CAIRO (Ma'an) -- Egyptian authorities are set to create a buffer zone along
the shared border with Gaza following an attack that killed 30 soldiers on
Saturday.

Egyptian military sources told Ma'an that all houses and farmland 500 meters
deep along the 13-kilometer (eight-mile) border will be evacuated, with the
exception of Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid.

A 20-meter wide and deep channel will also be constructed along the Gaza
border, the sources added.

The decision was taken by the Egyptian Defense Council and all work will
likely be completed by the end of 2014.

Following a survey with residents along the border, house owners will
receive compensation in return for leaving their homes, with some 200
families having already accepted the financial package to leave.

Around 680 more families live along the border.

The decision comes after a suicide car bombing which killed 30 Egyptian
soldiers in Sinai, the deadliest attack on the military since the coup.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the bomber had "external
support."

Egypt also immediately closed the Rafah crossing into the Gaza Strip
following the attack, the principal connection between Gaza's 1.7 million
people and the outside world.