A strip of land along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, called the Rafah buffer, is five km long and its demolition is one of several measures undertaken by the Egyptian government to counter insurgency in North Sinai and destroy all the underground smuggling tunnels from Egypt to Gaza. Egyptian armed forces discovered and blew up a 1,200-metre long tunnel containing weapons and explosives in January. Last year Egyptian military operations destroyed 1,500 smuggling tunnels, however recent satellite photos revealed hundreds more tunnels inside mosques in Rafa, inside bedrooms and inside stores. Consequently Egypt has decided to destroy the city of Rafah and build a new ‘Rafah city’.  Hundreds of family homes have been demolished and 1,220 houses are marked for demolition in the area