Minister of Defense and Military Production and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces General Abdul-Fattah al-Sisi issued a decree on Sunday 23/12/2012 banning ownership, lease or any other form of deals on land and buildings existing in areas of strategic military importance or other areas within a radius of 5 kilometers from Egypt's Eastern frontiers.

The ban covers lands and buildings already existing in Red Sea Islands, nature reserves, archeological sites and the areas around them, but excluded the city of Rafah.

According to the decree, only Egyptian nationals whose fathers and mothers hold the Egyptian nationality as well as legal entities, completely funded by Egyptian nationals, can own land in the Sinai Peninsula.

Egyptians' ownership confine only to structures built in the area and does not extend to the land on which they were built.