NORTH SINAI, Oct 28 (Aswat Masriya) – A joint committee of the armed forces and the Rafah City Council has surveyed the houses located on the eastern border of Rafah in preparation for their evacuation, sources within the committee said. 

The sources, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Aswat Masriya that over 800 houses with 10 thousand inhabitants have been surveyed. 

Residents were offered either financial compensation, a piece of land or a housing unit in exchange for evacuating their houses. The third option was completely eliminated, the sources said.

Militants have stepped up attacks targeting security forces in Egypt, particularly in the Sinai Peninsula, since the army's ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013, which followed mass protests against his rule. 

A fact-sheet prepared by Egypt's ministry of foreign affairs put the death toll for terrorism acts which took place since January 2011 and until April 2014 at 971, including 664 security personnel. The death toll has significantly risen since then.

At least 30 military personnel were killed in a suicide blast which targeted a security checkpoint in Sheikh Zuweid on Friday, in the worst militant attack since Mursi's ouster. The explosion also caused damage to two military vehicles. 

Shortly afterwards, a separate attack by unidentified gunmen on a security checkpoint in al-Arish killed three more security personnel.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared a three-month state of emergency and a nighttime curfew in parts of the Sinai Peninsula in response to the deadly attacks. 

Authorities have also discussed creating a buffer zone on Egypt's borders with the Palestinian Gaza Strip to allow security forces to target militants in the area.

Gaza's ruling body Hamas criticised the buffer zone in a Monday statement, saying it would reinforce the siege imposed on the strip since 2007.