Friday, August 19 2005 09:59 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Eshkol (Israel): Israeli forces yesterday (August 19, 2005) faced the most violent confrontation with Jewish settlers on the second day of the historic pullout from Gaza Strip as they stormed into two synagogues in the territory and forcibly evicted hundreds of settlers holed up there.

In all, 41 policemen and soldiers and 17 civilians were injured in yesterday's (August 18, 2005) evacuation of the six Gaza settlements, including Neve Dakalim and Kfar Darom, police said.

Jewish protestors threw acid at police after troops climbed up the ladder to the roof of the synagogue in isolated central settlement of Kfar Darom.

Unarmed police first entered the synagogue where hundreds of protestors had been resisting eviction. They were followed by riot troops who stormed the rooftop with wire cutters in army cranes where young protestors had remained behind coils of barbed wire.

The troops battled activists, who pelted them with sand, foam, liquid before dragging them away. Security forces also sprayed coloured water at the settlers in an attempt to subdue them.

"We have several policemen who have been wounded by acid and we will apply the full force of law," General Dan Harel, in charge of the pullout told reporters.

The daylong rooftop standoff recalled images from 1982 when Israeli troops evacuated Yamit, an Israeli town built on the coast of the Sinai Peninsula that was returned to Egypt.

The incident came soon after security forces raided another synagogue in Gaza's largest settlement Neve Dekalim to remove more than 1,000 young radicals. The evacuation of settlers from Neve Dekalim is now complete, officials said.

During the day, troops dragged out hundreds of pullout opponents who had holed up inside Neve Dekalim's synagogue in a defiant last stand. By last night (August 18, 2005), all the settlers and their supporters were gone, army and police confirmed.

The protestors were carried away by Israeli forces.

Many of them locked arms and legs lying on the ground as teams of soldiers pried them loose before carrying them to waiting buses.

A red-roofed villa was set ablaze in Neve Dekalim and an armed man on a seaside rooftop vowed to shoot if anyone tried to evict him but later relented after negotiating with the police.

Israeli troops also cleared beachside settlement of Shiarat Hayam and dragged settlers out of their homes.

In the Kfar Yam settlement, scores of Israeli soldiers raided a house where an armed Jewish settler and around 30 people, including children, had barricaded themselves inside.

There were reports of Palestinian militants firing three mortars at Jewish settlement of Morag yesterday (August 18, 2005) but there were no casualties.

There are also reports from Nablus of a brief clash between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen at the main army checkpoint into this West Bank town.

Also near Nablus, witnesses said, Israeli settlers ransacked two Palestinian homes. No injuries were reported in either incident.

Some 70 per cent of the settlers have left or have been removed, reports said, although there numbers were swelled by around 5,000 infiltrators. The finals Israelis are to be evacuated by Monday (August 22, 2005) or Tuesday (August 23, 2005), Israeli radio said.