ISRAEL’S forcible evacuation of its settlers from the Gaza Strip began with harrowing scenes of its troops dragging screaming Jews from their homes and synagogues yesterday, but with much less violence than expected.

By late in the day commanders heading the army’s biggest peacetime operation predicted that it could be all but completed by tonight, weeks ahead of schedule, after much of the fight appeared to have gone out of the resistance.

The most serious threat came when an Israeli settler killed four Palestinian labourers in the West Bank in an apparent attempt to sabotage the withdrawal by provoking Palestinian retaliation.

The 40-year-old minibus opened fire on the labourers whom he was ferrying to work in the West Bank settlement of Shiloh. Within hours Palestinian militants had fired a mortar and traded gunfire with Israeli troops forcibly removing settlers from their homes in Gaza.

Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, called the killings an act of “Jewish terror” designed to thwart the pullout. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, begged his people not to retaliate. The Bush Administration expressed “deep concern” and urged all sides to show restraint.

The killings apart, Major- General Dan Harel, commander of the eviction operation, was last night hailing it as a “victory for all of us”. Officials said that more than 60 per cent of Gaza’s 8,500 settlers had left or been evicted.

About 14,000 soldiers and police flooded into six of Gaza’s twenty-one settlements shortly after daybreak. They went from house to house, ordering the residents out and breaking down doors if they refused to leave.

Settlers and hardline Jewish “infiltrators” were dragged screaming and sobbing from their homes and synagogues by the troops, some of whom were themselves in tears. There were instances of soldiers hugging settlers, or joining them in prayer, before removing them.

The settlers blocked roads, lit fires and begged the soldiers to refuse orders. A 54-year-old West Bank settler set herself on fire at a checkpoint just outside the Gaza Strip, suffering severe burns.

In the largest settlement, Neve Dekalim, 15 members of an American ultra-Orthodox movement barricaded themselves in a synagogue’s basement and threatened to set themselves on fire.

Some settlers burnt their own homes rather than leave them to Palestinians.

Mr Sharon, who has staked his political future on the withdrawal from Gaza, said that he remained convinced that it would strengthen Israel, though the one-time settlers’ champion described his own “heartbreak” at witnessing Jews dragging Jews from their homes.

“It is impossible to watch this, and that includes myself, without tears in my eyes,” he told a news conference.

He praised the sensitivity of the Israeli troops, adding: “I am appealing to everyone. Don’t attack the men and women in uniform. Don’t accuse them. Don’t make it harder for them. Attack me. I am responsible for this.”

Officials claimed last night that all the six targeted settlements, with the exception of Neve Dekalim, had been emptied.

The small religious settlement of Morag was cleared quickly of the 30 families that remained. Eighty religious students who had gone to lend support holed up in the synagogue, but were eventually led and carried away.

Tel Katifa, a seafront settlement of 22 families, was cleared by mid-afternoon, as were Bedolah, Ganne Tal and Kerem Atzmona.

Some settlements negotiated more time. Netzarim residents agreed to leave voluntarily on Monday and Netzar Hazani was given an extra 24 hours for the army to bring removal containers before the 70 families are symbolically carried from their homes.

The toughest holdouts, Kfar Darom and Shirat Hyam, are likely to be tackled today. Kfar Darom’s religious settlers, joined by 1,500 supporters in tents, barricaded themselves behind barbed wire and vowed to make things tough for the soldiers. Shirat Hyam’s ultra-nationalists dismantled a perimeter fence, fearing that they would be trapped when security forces came.

Mr Sharon and General Harel praised Palestinian security forces for maintaining calm to allow the evacuation to continue unhindered.

The Prime Minister told the settlers that their sacrifice was not in vain because relinquishing Gaza would make it easier to hold on to the Israeli West Bank settlements. While the images he had seen had been heartrending, the Gaza settlers should take comfort that they had not failed, but had won new hope for Israel.

“I think it is important that they (the Gaza settlers) know that what they did was not in vain,” he said.

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