Troops storm synagogue in Gaza's largest settlement

Thousands of Israeli forces began storming the main synagogue of the Jewish settlement Neve Dekalim today, one of the last bastions of resistance to the Gaza pullout.

Some 1,500 protesters were holed up inside and vowed not to leave. Police entered the compound after hours of negotiations with settler leaders broke down. Several minutes after charging up the ramp, the forces halted – apparently in a last-minute attempt to get the protesters to leave voluntarily.

In the nearby settlement of Kfar Darom, hundreds of Gaza pullout opponents barricaded themselves behind rolls of barbed wire in the synagogue, and security forces dragged screaming residents out of homes and settlers elsewhere burned houses, fields and tyres in protest.