GAZA CITY, August 16, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – For Palestinians, Neve Dekalim, the largest Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip, conjures up images of cold-blood killings and destruction as it used to be a launch pad for deadly Israeli raids into the adjacent city of Khan Yunis.

"I have been praying to live and see this day," Abu Namous, who lost his eldest son in a 2003 Israeli onslaught, told IslamOnline.net.

"Throughout the years I watched the settlement gobbling up our land and displacing our children. Only now my son can rest in peace," the 85-year-old grandfather said, heaving a big sigh of relief.

Palestinians are impatient to see the settlement dismantled and settlers, who were mostly brought from East Europe and Russia, evacuated as part of the Israeli pullout from the strip.

"It has been such a nightmare for the residents of Khan Yunis," said Abu Namous as he watched Israeli forces pouring into Neve Dekalim, pushing back defiant settlers and cutting through an iron gate at the main entrance.

Scuffles erupted as settlers burned car tyres and piles of rubbish along the main street.

Thousands of Palestinians gathered in Khan Yunis to celebrate the uprooting and evacuation of the settlement and the end of Israel's 38-year occupation of the Gaza Strip.

"They destroyed our homes, we'll leave them to destroy theirs by their own hands," was seen scrawled on banners held aloft by jubilant Palestinians.

Israel plans to bulldoze all housing units inside the 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip before exiting the territory.

Israeli soldiers and police officers dismantle the main gate of Neve Dekalim (Reuters)

With more than 108 Palestinians killed and up to 2500 homes demolished in Israeli offensives launched from Neve Dekalim, the settlement of death and destruction as called by the Palestinians is by no means a misnomer.

A flashpoint of defiance against the dismantle of Jewish settlements under Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan, Neve Dekalim was constructed in 1982 on 600 donums of Palestinian land usurped by Israeli occupation troops.

Over the years, the Israeli occupation army annexed more 2900 donums and housing units mushroomed to 700 occupied by up to 3000 settlers.

Neve Dekalim has also been the headquarters of key settler administrative establishments – including the Regional Council for the Gaza Strip settlements.

Eviction warnings to 9,000 settlers in all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four of 120 in the West Bank went into effect at midnight on Sunday, August 14.

Settlers have until Wednesday, August 17, to go voluntarily or face expulsion by force.

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Tuesday Palestinians will not be allowed to enter the settlements until a month after evacuation.

In the West Bank, two of the four settlements to be evacuated -- Ganim and Kadim -- became the first to be vacated. Most of the residents had already left before the eviction order.

The Israeli army intends to wrap up the Gaza pullout in early October, when the last troops leave.

Palestinians welcome Israel's withdrawal from land captured in the 1967 Middle East war.