Egypt has begun demolishing homes along its Sinai border with the Gaza strip as part of a 500m buffer zone to prevent weapons smuggling.<br /><br />Locals were given 48-hours notice and a promise of compensation to leave.<br /><br />If they refuse to move, their property is being forcibly seized.<br /><br />Each displaced family is due to receive 900 Egyptian pounds (99 euros) to help pay for three months rent elsewhere, while compensation for destroyed property is being calculated.<br /><br />The buffer will include water-filled trenches to prevent tunneling.<br /><br />Around 800 homes in the border city of Rafah have been evacuated.<br /><br />One of the city’s residents said :“We hear the explosions everyday near the border. They fire at the residents who live on that side, they are trying to make it an isolated area.”<br /><br />The move follows last week’s militant bomb attacks in Sinai which killed more than 30 Egyptian soldiers.<br />The remote strategic region borders Israel, Gaza and the Suez Canal <br /><br />Egypt suspects Gaza’s Hamas administration of aiding the militants – something Hamas denies.
