CAIRO, Aug 17 (Aswat Masriya) - Families that have been relocated from their homes in North Sinai's Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid towns will be granted assistance to provide for their "pressing" living needs, state news agency MENA reported on Monday.  

The National Council for Women, a governmental body, has pledged 100,000 Egyptian pounds (around $12,263) to assist the families who are currently living in shelters in the desert, said council chairwoman, Mervat al-Talawy. 

She said that it turned out that these families need "water, food, clothing, gas cylinders" and sources of lighting, without providing a figure on how many families there are. 

In order to create a "buffer zone", Egypt's cabinet issued on October 29 a decision to clear 500 metres of the border area with Gaza of civilians, vowing to provide compensation for those evicted.

The area was doubled to 1,000 meters in November. 

The cabinet's evacuation decision allows the forcible seizure of the property of those who refuse to comply.

Since July 2013, militants have stepped up attacks targeting security forces in the country. The northern part of the Sinai peninsula has been at the epicentre of this insurgency.

It was met by a military crackdown, in which hundreds of militants were killed in the past few months alone, based on official military statements.