Israel keeps its pullout word

Shouting ‘‘Jews don’t expel Jews,’’ protesters hurled stones, concrete chunks and paint-filled light bulbs at troops climbing up ladders to cut through coils of razor wire lining the roof. Several police were hurt by acid thrown at them, police said.

The melee was reminiscent of Israel’s chaotic evacuation of the Yamit settlement in Sinai in 1982 and followed a standoff with hundreds of ultranationalist youths barricaded inside the synagogue, defying orders to leave.

That came just an hour and a half after security forces swept into another synagogue in Gaza’s largest settlement, Neve Dekalim, to dislodge more than 1,000 young radicals.

One teenager flailed wildly and shouted, ‘‘May this be a stain on your hearts forever!’’ An exhausted soldier, drenched in sweat, was pulled out on a stretcher sobbing, ‘‘I can’t go on.’’

Another tense situation ended without serious violence as forces entered the beachfront stronghold of Shirat Hayam. Bulldozers cleared away burning tyres and rubbish and troops pulled out settlers and protesters, some kicking and shouting.

Officials said 80 per cent of Gaza’s Jews had left or been evicted, and that the Gaza withdrawal would be completed by Tuesday, taking less than half as long as the most optimistic earlier predictions.

Meanwhile, Israeli troops evacuating the settlement of Kfar Darom, disarmed and dragged away a soldier who disobeyed orders to take part in the operation. It was the first such mutiny in the ranks in a settlement since the forcible evacuation of Gaza’s 8,500 settlers began on Wednesday.

Army Radio said the soldier attacked the deputy commander of the Kfar Darom evacuation, pulling off his headphones as the officer was giving an interview to one of its reporters at the scene. —Reuters