The forcible evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip has begun, the army said today.

Israeli security forces clashed with hundreds of opponents of Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip today, arresting at least 50 people in the roughest confrontation between troops and settlers since the start of the operation.

TEARFUL Jewish settlers locked gates at their communities, formed human chains and burned tires in a defiant bid to block troops from delivering eviction notices yesterday.

Thousands of Israeli troops marched into Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip today, delivering eviction notices in some communities, but encountering locked gates and protesters at others, as Israel’s historic pullout from the coastal territory got under way.

ISRAEL could eventually relinquish more West Bank settlements, beyond the four to be dismantled in coming weeks, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suggested in an interview published yesterday.

Israel will insist on moving the Gaza-Egypt border crossing to a new location after Israel’s pullout from Gaza so Israeli inspectors can continue to check goods and people, Israel’s Security Cabinet was told today, and the emerging position appears to rule out the deployment of foreign inspectors at Gaza crossings.

Benjamin Netanyahu has assumed the mantle of leadership of opposition to Israel’s pullout from the Gaza Strip by resigning as finance minister as the Cabinet was about to vote on it – but he admitted he can’t stop the withdrawal, set to begin next week.

ISRAELI Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has resigned in protest over next week's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank.

Israel agreed in principle yesterday to evacuate a road along the Gaza-Egypt border that has been a major flashpoint of violence in recent years, Vice Premier Shimon Peres said after a Palestinian official warned that continued Israeli military patrols there would invite attacks.

The Israeli parliament easily passed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s contentious plan to pull out of Gaza and part of the West Bank, approving compensation of hundreds of thousands of shekels to families of settlers to be evacuated.

Yuri Cortez, Morag Settlement

An Israeli civilian was killed and three soldiers injured in a bomb blast near a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip today.

PALESTINIAN militants shelled an Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip yesterday, killing one woman and wounding another.

THREE Israeli soldiers and three Palestinians were killed during gun battles after militants broke into a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.

Two armed Palestinians infiltrated a fog-shrouded Israeli army outpost in a Gaza Strip settlement today, killing at least three Israelis in a fierce gun battle before being shot dead.

THE new leader of Hamas said yesterday the group had no plans to attack American targets but would try to kill Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in retaliation for the death of their spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

ISRAEL and the Palestinians were locked in a deadly cycle yesterday, with militant groups vowing revenge for a raid that killed 14 on Sunday and the army promising no let up in its operations.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wants to dismantle seven settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with the consent of settler leaders, Israel radio reported today.

AN Israeli helicopter fired two missiles at a car in the Gaza Strip last night, wounding at least 11 people, Palestinian witnesses said.

Hamas has said the shooting dead of one of its senior officials will not go unpunished.

Israeli soldiers today killed three Palestinians, including two armed Hamas fighters, and troops also destroyed 16 shacks, leaving more than 200 people homeless in confrontations in the Gaza Strip.

The Islamic terrorist group Hamas has promised more attacks after seven people were killed, including five Americans, by a bomb that ripped apart a university cafeteria in Jerusalem yesterday.