Reporting by Egyptian Streets and Aswat Masriya A joint committee of the armed forces and the Rafah City Council has surveyed the houses located on the eastern border of Rafah in preparation for their evacuation, sources within the committee said. The sources, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Aswat Masriya that over 800 houses with ten thousand inhabitants have been surveyed. However, the number of residents in the area of evacuation is likely to be much less, with between 250-600 houses expected to be evacuated. Residents were offered either financial compensation, a piece of land or a housing unit in exchange for evacuating their houses. The third option was completely exhausted, the sources said. The evacuation comes as Egypt prepares to implement a buffer zone along the Rafah border crossing with Gaza. The buffer zone will be 500 meters along the border with Gaza and will stretch along the length of the 13 kilometer border. According to sources, many houses along the border conceal tunnels running underneath it and to the Gaza Strip, where authorities claim arms smuggling occurs. In an attempt to counter the construction of new tunnels, water…
