Bulldozers raze Gaza settlements as evacuations near end

ISRAELI bulldozers knocked down houses in four Gaza settlements yesterday, levelling once-thriving villages in hours as thousands of soldiers poured into four other communities in the final phase of removing holdout settlers from the coastal strip.

The troops were met by burning barricades, pleading settlers and a mock cemetery built “for anyone who expels Jews from their homes”. Other settlers left in a dignified procession, quietly weeping.

In the West Bank, extremists exchanged blows with soldiers and slashed tires of army jeeps near Sanur, an enclave to be dismantled later this week. Police said 10 officers suffered light injuries in skirmishes that gave a foretaste of violent confrontations expected when forced evacuations shift to the West Bank.