The Egyptian authorities have evacuated 802 houses belonging to 1,165 families in North Sinai's Rafah city near the border with the Palestinian Gaza Strip to create a buffer zone, North Sinai Governor Abdel-Fattah Harhour said, Xinhua reported.
On Tuesday the government notified residents of Rafah, whose houses are within a 500-meter distance from the border line with Gaza, to evacuate within 48 hours, so as to create a buffer zone in the area as part of the country's anti-terrorism campaign.
The move came a few days after a car bomb attacked on a big military checkpoint north of the nearby Sheikh Zuweid city, which killed some 30 soldiers and injured tens of others. Egypt has announced a three-month curfew and state of emergency in some parts of North Sinai in reaction to the attack.
Harhour said that the governorate will provide reasonable compensation for the evacuated citizens as well as places for storing furniture until they find suitable alternate houses.
Gen. Mohamed al-Saadani, head of Rafah City Council, said that the council has already started paying the compensation after owners provided required documents.
An official source in Sinai told Xinhua earlier that the security forces intend dig a canal alongside the 13 km border line with Gaza to prevent smuggling tunnels between Egypt and the Palestinian enclave.
The Egyptian authorities have been facing a rising wave of terrorism since former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was ousted by the military in July 2013. The following crackdown on Morsi supporters has left about 1,000 killed and thousands more arrested.
Anti-government attacks have extended from the Sinai Peninsula to the capital Cairo and other provinces across the country. The al-Qaida-inspired Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis in Sinai and its fellow Ajnad Misr groups have claimed responsibility for most of the attacks.
The Egyptian forces are currently intensifying security operations in North Sinai as part of the country's "anti-terror war" adopted by President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.