RAFAH, Egypt -- Egypt is building a 13-foot high concrete and rock wall interspersed with watch towers along its narrow boundary with the Gaza Strip to prevent Hamas militants from breaching the border, an official said Thursday.
The wall, set back nearly 35 feet from an existing metal barrier, has guard towers every 100 yards. With it, Egypt hopes to prevent any future breaches like one in January when Palestinians broke through to escape an Israeli blockade, a security official said on customary condition of anonymity.
On Jan. 23, Hamas broke through the metal wall to let hundreds of thousands of Palestinians escape the blockaded Gaza. At first, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ordered his troops to let the Palestinians cross freely as long as they came to buy food and commodities.
But after 12 days, Egypt sealed its borders and strongly warned against any attempts to forcibly open the border again.
"Work on the wall started as soon as Egyptian authorities closed the borders and they have completed about eight kilometers (five miles) of the wall," said Ashraf Barhoum, a local farmer living nearby.
