The Israeli army completed withdrawal of its forces from the Gaza Strip and locked the gate on Kissufim checkpoint point between Israel and Gaza Strip on Monday morning marking the end of 38 years of military rule in the Strip, through its unilateral disengagement plan.
The job is now easier for the Israeli army, observers say. Israel controls the strip from outside now, instead of inside, which is a lot cheaper.
The army, believes its mission has ended in the strip. ‘The mission has been completed and an era has ended,’ said Brig. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, commander of the Israeli forces in Gaza, at a brief ceremony.
‘From now on, the Palestinian Authority bears responsibility for what happens in the Gaza Strip,’ he said. ‘The responsibility for the security of the citizens of the state continues to be all ours.’
The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a celebration in the Gaza Strip that it is good that the Israeli Army left the Gaza Strip, yet this is not enough, occupation is not over.
Recently, the Israeli High court, ruled that the Gaza Strip and the West Bank are not Israel, setting the base for the withdrawal to be implemented.
The convoys began rolling out of the Gaza Strip around 1 A.M. on Monday and Palestinian police waving the Palestinian flags took over the abandoned positions.
Palestinian security officers entered what was once the largest colony in the strip, Neveh Dekalim, in the southern Gaza Strip, which hosted the Israeli army’s headquarters during the occupation of the strip. Palestinians said will use it as PA headquarters.
The PA took over the Israeli military headquarters in the West Bank and Gaza Strip cities in which the Israeli army redeployed in under the Oslo agreement and used them as their headquarters in 1995.
Palestinian security forces claimed they found spying equipment in some of these headquarters.
