Israel may speed up Gaza pullout

ISRAEL’S top security chiefs are looking to tighten the already shortened Gaza Strip evacuation timetable, defence and government officials said yesterday.

Nearly half of all Jewish settler families, meanwhile, have sought compensation for the withdrawal that many have vowed to resist, government officials said.

On August 15, Israel is to begin its forcible evacuation of Jewish settlers and their supporters who refuse to leave the Gaza Strip and four small northern West Bank settlements.