CAIRO — Egypt began evacuating hundreds of families from a town bordering the Gaza Strip on Thursday after a senior official acknowledged that the military was eradicating the town in order to complete a security zone abutting the Palestinian territory.

The military began bulldozing the border town, Rafah, several months ago as part of a sweeping response to repeated militant attacks on Egyptian security personnel in the Sinai Peninsula. After evacuating hundreds of families and clearing an area stretching 500 yards from the border, the authorities announced in November that they were doubling the size of the security zone.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Abdel Fattah Harhoor, the governor of North Sinai, said the zone would include “the entire city of Rafah,” according to a video of his remarks carried by the BBC.

“So the city of Rafah that we know will cease to exist?” a journalist asked him.

“No, the new Rafah city will exist,” the governor replied, referring to plans to start new construction in the area.