REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, CAIRO -  Egypt's military has bulldozed 13 homes along the Gaza Strip border and caved in tunnels beneath them as a prelude to the possible creation of a buffer zone to reduce weapon smuggling and illegal crossings, angering residents who said they were evicted with no compensation, security officials and residents said Sunday.

The military envisions creating a building-free zone with no trees 500 meters (1,640 feet) wide and 10 kilometers (6 miles) long starting at the Rafah border crossing and ending at the Mediterranean Sea, Northern Sinai government officials said. The homes were knocked down over the last 10 days as a test of the buffer zone idea in an area called el-Sarsoriya, a few kilometers (miles) from the Rafah crossing, while explosives were used to collapse the tunnels. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The move comes as Egypt's interim government and military attempt to assert more stringent state control over the largely lawless northern Sinai Peninsula. Ehab Ghussein, a spokesman for the Hamas government in Gaza, said he feared the creation of a buffer zone would be a step toward imposing "a new blockade on Gaza and increase the suffering of its people."

"Buffer zones are not needed between neighboring countries that have historical and social relations," Ghussein said, calling instead for the establishment of a free trade zone at the Egypt-Gaza border.

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