Hamas building Gaza buffer zone as it seeks improved Egypt ties

RAFAH, Palestinian Territories — Gaza’s rulers Hamas said they had begun building a new buffer zone along the southern border with Egypt on Wednesday, as the Islamist movement seeks to improve ties with Cairo.

The 100-metre wide “safe area”, stretching 12 kilometres along the border between the Palestinian enclave and Egypt, will be equipped with surveillance cameras and military posts, officials said.

“It will be a closed military area and therefore it will be easier to oversee the border and prevent smuggling of drugs and infiltrators,” Deputy Interior Minister Tawfiq Abu Naim told AFP.

Bulldozers were expected to demolish a series of homes and structures along the border.

Islamists Hamas have had strained relations with Egypt since the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood president, in 2013.

The current Egyptian government has closed hundreds of smuggling tunnels along the border and accused Hamas of supporting Islamist radicals inside Egypt, including near the border.

Cairo also all but closed off the border between Egypt and Gaza, adding to the isolation of the impoverished territory under blockade by Israel for a decade.