Last of Gaza settlers begin leaving

Jewish settlers in the last Gaza settlement of Netzarim to be evacuated today began boarding armoured buses that will drive them out of the Gaza Strip.

Once the convoy of armoured buses has rolled out of Gaza, Israel will have completed the removal of settlers from all 21 Gaza settlements.

Israeli forces began evacuating the 21 Gaza settlements last week, more than a year after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon concluded Israel could no longer defend its 38-year-old occupation of the coastal strip, which Palestinians claim as part of a future state.

As troops prepared to wrap up the Israeli withdrawals, displaced settlers from Gaza were setting up two tent camps just outside the coastal strip today to protest what they said was the government’s failure to provide alternate housing.