Israel says it has completed the evacuation of Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip today.
"Except for two families now in (the settlement of) Netzarim, who will be evacuated imminently, we have today completed the evacuation of the Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip," Major-General Dan Harel told reporters.
Jewish settlers carry Torah Scrolls in the synagogue in the Jewish settlement of Netzarim.
At the news conference in Netzarim, Harel declared the "first stage of the disengagement plan", the removal of settlers from the occupied Gaza Strip, "complete".
In the second phase of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to disengage from conflict with the Palestinians, Israeli security forces will begin to remove settlers from two West Bank enclaves tomorrow on Tuesday.
Israel finished the evacuation of all 21 Gaza settlements some two weeks ahead of schedule.
This afternoon tearful settlers left the Gaza Strip's last Jewish enclave to complete the evacuation after nearly four decades of occupation.
But in the West Bank, radicals opposed to ceding settlements dug in for a last stand at two enclaves that also are due to be removed under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's pullout plan.
In Netzarim, there was no sign of the noisy protests or burning barricades that greeted the evacuation of some of the other 20 settlements in Gaza last week. Soldiers joined settlers in two hours of tearful prayers.
They then set off on a mournful last procession carrying on their shoulders the large candelabra, or menorah, they removed from the synagogue.
"We are leaving against our will, but we are not going with our heads bowed," said Rabbi Tzion Tzion-Tawil. "The saplings which are being uprooted here, we will replant throughout the country until we make our return to Netzarim."
The World Court has branded Israel's settlements in Gaza and the West Bank illegal. Israel disputes this.
The religious farming community of Netzarim, one of the first settlements established in Gaza after the 1967 war, had been a frequent target for militants. Palestinians particularly resented Netzarim because it almost cut the strip in two.
Settlers headed out of Netzarim in buses and cars piled high with belongings under army escort through the strip of sand and barbed wire, guarded by Israeli tanks, that leads through Palestinian-run territory to Israel.
"I hope that our tragedy will be over soon," said Palestinian farmer Rashaad Badawi, near Netzarim.
Despite the scenes of settlers being dragged weeping from homes and protesters carried screaming from synagogues, evacuations of the 8,500 Gaza settlers have taken two weeks less than expected.
But more clashes are expected at Sanur and Homesh, two West Bank settlements due to be removed tomorrow, whose numbers are swollen by hundreds of youths from the most radical outposts.
Pullout opponents hope to make those withdrawals so traumatic it will be much harder to ever consider giving up more settlements in the West Bank - to which Israelis see a much stronger biblical claim than to tiny Gaza.
Sharon stressed on Sunday there would be no more unilateral withdrawals from the West Bank, where Israel aims to keep major settlements, the biggest of which house tens of thousands.
Palestinian policemen protect youth from approaching the Jewish settlement of Netzarim. Palestinians particularly resented Netzarim because it almost cut the strip in two.
"There will be building in the settlement blocs," he said, as quoted by the Jerusalem Postnewspaper. "I will build."
Sharon says further withdrawals will only come through talks with the Palestinians, which in turn depend on militants being disarmed under a US-backed "road map". Israel has failed to meet its own road map commitment to freeze settlement building.
Palestinians are glad to see the back of the Gaza settlers. But they fear Israel aims to keep most West Bank settlements housing 230,000 people. Some 3.8 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and Gaza.
Facing a strong challenge from militant groups, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he hoped to use the pullout to promote a message of non-violence and support for peace talks.
"The people's beliefs are changing," Abbas told Reuters in an interview. He added that Israel needed to do more to help and stop acting unilaterally.