Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Egypt has decided to expand its controversial buffer zone with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

The government said it would double the size of its planned buffer zone in the Sinai Peninsula. In a statement, the government said the zone along the Sinai border with the Gaza Strip would reach one kilometer.

“A decision was taken to increase the buffer zone along the border in Rafah to one kilometer,” Egypt’s official Middle East News Agency said.

[On Nov. 18, at least 10 Bedouins were killed when a mortar slammed into their home in northern Sinai. Security sources said the mortar was fired in a battle between the Egyptian Army and Islamic fighters in the village of Negha Shabana.]

In a report on Nov. 17, MENA said the decision to double the size of the buffer zone was taken amid an effort by Hamas and Egyptian smugglers to build tunnels that connect the divided city of Rafah. Some of the tunnels were also said to reach the nearby town of Sheik Zweid, deemed a major insurgency stronghold.

“The decision came after the discovery of underground tunnels with a total length of 800 to 1,000 meters,” MENA said.

The Egyptian buffer zone, meant to span 14 kilometers, has included the eviction of some 10,000 residents along the Sinai-Gaza border. The eviction, expected to be concluded by 2015, has been accompanied by a spike in insurgency attacks in both Rafah as well as the Sinai provincial capital of El Arish.

  Border alert — Egypt: Military doubles buffer zone against Hamas, Gaza Strip, WorldTribune.com