After the 10-minute warning given to the protestor in Neveh Dekalim synagogue to leave, the unarmed soldiers entered into the building and started evacuating the protestors on Thursday afternoon, ending a two-day standoff.
Israeli police and soldiers break open door of Kfar Darom synagogue and use water cannons against protesters behind barbed wire.
Some Neveh Dekalim settlers who refused to leave together with anti-disengagement protestors holed up in the building in bid to prevent the evacuation.
Protestors spoke to the soldiers and police via loud speakers trying to convince them to refuse to carry out the evacuation orders, so that soldiers would not discrete the synagogue.
Protesters chanted ‘Jews don’t expel Jews’ as groups of four soldiers pulled them out one by one and carried them to waiting buses although they were linked arms.
Earlier, protesters poured oil over the entrance to the compound to block troops from entering.
Meanwhile, some other residents remaining in the settlement have begun to set their houses on fire.
The police rejected a suggestion by the Yesha rabbis in Neveh Dekalim asking the police to say mourning prayer with the settlers after which those barricading the synagogue would leave. Police insisted that settlers and protestors leave immediately.
Neveh Dekalim, the largest settlement in Gush Katif, originally had 467 settler families, out of which more than 350 families left voluntarily. Military sources said they expect to completely evacuating the remainder of the families and protestors by the end of Thursday.
