Egypt demolishes 1,020 Rafah homes

The Egyptian army demolished 1,020 houses in the border city of Rafah as part of the second stage of the establishment of a buffer zone along the border with the Gaza Strip.

Egyptian security officials told a Ma'an reporter in El-Arish city on Tuesday that 200 more houses would be demolished to create a no-go zone extending 500 meters from the border fence.

Families evacuated from the properties have already been reimbursed, the official said, adding that the Egyptian government had paid some 150 million Egyptian pounds ($19.7 million) in compensation to evacuated families.

The North Sinai has seen prolonged violence since the ousting of Egypt's first democratically elected president, Muhammad Morsi, in 2013.

Egypt says t sets up the buffer zone in order to contain the violence.