The Israeli army issued eviction notices to the settlers of the Nissanit settlement in the northern Gaza Strip, as the first step on the ground after sealing off the Strip declaring the beginning of the implementation of the disengagement plan in the early hours of Monday morning. The notices give the settlers 48 hours to evict the settlements.
Most of the residents of this settlement, mostly secular, have already left the settlement. Yet, the army wants to close it to prevent anti-disengagement activists from re-occupying the site in an effort to disturb the pullout.
In other settlements, the settlers blocked the entrances of their settlements to prevent the police and the army from entering to carry out the evacuation.
Following requests by some settlers, the army will not deliver the eviction notices to five settlements in the strip describe to be among the top hard-line ones, namely, Netzarim, Kfar Darom, Etzmona, Katif and Dugit.
A senior source at the Israeli police said, the disengagement law does not require issuing eviction orders, as disengagement itself is an eviction order, yet, the army decided to issue them in bid to minimize friction with the settlers.
The Israeli military establishment is very much concerned about the settlers’ violence. So far, more than 20,000 troops and soldiers have been deployed to carry out the disengagement.
Shortly after midnight on Sunday the first convoy of evacuating forces rolled into the Gaza Strip. Some 50 vehicles, including jeeps, ambulances and buses carrying police and soldiers entered the Strip in a first wave.
