People in the restive Sinai Peninsula have been informed of a third phase of evacuations to be made as part of government plans to create a 2,000-meter buffer zone along the border with the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
People in Rafah said they have been notified that the third phase of evacuations will begin in early April. The first two phases involved the evacuation of 3,350 families from land that extended 1,000 meters into Egypt along the 14 km-long border.
Egypt has embarked on the scheme as a means to ensure tighter control over the region which has witnessed recurrent bloody attacks by Islamist extremists against security forces, leaving hundreds of troops dead since the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
