Hamas Building Buffer Zone Along Gaza-Egypt Border

The Times of Israel reports: Hamas on Wednesday said they had begun constructing a security buffer zone between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, as it attempts to improve ties with Cairo.

The new area will be a closed-off military zone, and will stretch 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) along the southern border of the coastal Strip with the Sinai Peninsula, and will reach 100 meters (330 feet) into Gaza, the Hamas-run interior ministry said. It will include observation towers, cameras and lighting. Tawfiq Abu Naim, a security chief of the Gaza-based terror group, said the new security zone was being constructed as part of a recent agreement between Cairo and Hamas.

“These continuing measures are for the sake of achieving control of the southern border and to completely prevent infiltration and smuggling,” Abu Naim said in the statement. He added that the construction of the buffer zone “is a reassuring message directed at the Egyptian side that the national security of Egypt is the national security of Gaza.”