„Egypt: Isolation wall on border with Gaza …“
On October 31, the independent Al-Jarida newspaper carried the following report by Mustafa Sanjar, Ayman Isa and Nancy Attiya: „Cairo is trying to strengthen its grip over the border with the Gaza Strip, through the building of an isolation wall upon the full evacuation of the border strip with Gaza, in the context of a comprehensive security system which Egypt is planning to complete within days to secure its eastern border.
In the meantime, the government announced the banning of the activities of the Coalition in Support of Legitimacy, which is loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood group. Hence, knowledgeable Egyptian sources assured Al-Jarida that Cairo will start building a security zone on the border with Gaza upon the full evacuation of the border strip that is 13 kilometers long and 500 meters deep.
„This will allow it to tighten its grip over the border, which is believed to be used by extremist Islamic groups to enter Sinai and carry out terrorist operations against the police and army forces, the last of which was the Karm Kawadiss massacre that claimed the lives of 30 soldiers last Friday. The sources said that the army will start establishing a comprehensive security system on the border, featuring an isolation wall along the border strip, a network of roads supported by highly advanced detection and remote monitoring devices, and sophisticated radars that will be set up on the watchtowers to allow a full monitoring of the border round the clock. The sources indicated that an advanced electrical security system will be installed along the border to prevent any infiltration attempts by the terrorist elements throughout the strip.
„In the meantime, most of the families in the city of Rafah evacuated their homes in the buffer zone, which the army intends to build there…, knowing that the majority among them preferred to move to the city of Al-Arish, i.e. the capital of the North Sinai province, due to the availability of housing units in it and its safe distance from the security hot zones in Rafah and Sheikh Zweid… For his part, a military source said to Al-Jarida that the raids carried out in Northern Sinai yesterday resulted in the death of three extremely dangerous Takfiris and the injuring of three others in an exchanged shooting with the armed forces and the police …“
Al-Jarida, Kuwait