Egypt to expand buffer zone with Gaza to 5km

Egyptian authorities have finished the process of counting the houses of Egyptian residents in the Sinai Peninsula in order to expand the buffer zone along the border with the Gaza Strip to 5km, Egyptian Daily News reported on Monday.

North Sinai governor Abdel Fattah Harhour announced that the scanning of the area has already been completed and that it is ready for evacuation.

He referred to Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb’s decree to establish a 5km-wide buffer zone, and said that the rest of the area will be evacuated in several phases.

Hasrhour said that the Egyptian authorities have prepared enough compensation and alternative housing for those who will be evicted.

However, Amnesty International said that the Egyptian authorities failed to give residents “adequate” notice of their eviction, and have not provided sufficient compensation or alternative residences.

The human rights organisation called for an end to the destruction of Egyptian houses in Sinai. “Egyptian authorities must halt the arbitrary demolition of hundreds of homes and mass forced evictions underway in Rafah, North Sinai,” Amnesty said in a statement.

In addition, Amnesty accused the Egyptian authorities of “completely ignoring key safeguards required under international law… [thus] rendering the evictions unlawful.”

Egypt first decided to establish a 500-metre buffer zone with the Gaza Strip in late October. The Egyptian border with Gaza is 13km long.