Hardline Gaza settler about to to open fire on Israeli soldiers

Israeli soldiers on Thursday broke into the heavily fortified compound of Jewish settler Aryeh Yitzhaki, who refused to surrender his weapon and holed up on his roof with several women and children.

After a standoff, taugh-talking Yitzhaki relinquished his weapon and walked out of the house carrying a young girl. Then he boarded a bus to be evacuated.

"An inhumanity has been done. We will do everything to be sure that he will no longer be prime minister," he said, referring to Israeli premier Ariel Sharon.

From the roof, the security forces were pelted with eggs and containers of chocolate spread. After several minutes, soldiers carried away some of the protesters.

Earlier in the day, the settler, Aryeh Yitzhaki, had told Israeli media he would not hand over his weapon - unlike most other Gaza settlers. He was seen on his rooftop with an M-16 rifle flung around his shoulder.

Yitzhaki has earned himself a reputation as one of Gaza's most extreme settlers. He helped organize tent cities housing thousands of pullout opponents from outside Gaza to bolster the resistance.

Throughout the day, television images showed him pacing his roof talking on his cell phone, accompanied by family members. Three large Israeli flags flew on the roof, and anti-pullout posters were plastered on the walls.

Police spokesman Avi Zelba confirmed the presence of four armed settlers in the outpost who caused troops to temporarily suspend the forcible evacuation.

About 40 extremists were holed up in Yitzhaki's house, and they lit a fire in the yard, Haaretz said.

Just down the beach from Kfar Yam, troops broke into the settlement outpost of Shirat Hayam and began forcibly evacuating the residents.

Shirat Hayam and Kfar Yam are among the most hardline of Gaza's Jewish settlements. They're next to the Palestinian town of Al-Mawasi, where the army declared a curfew on Thursday to protect Jewish settlers and troops during the evacuation.

Thursday was the second day of forcible evacuations of Jewish settlers from Gaza, part of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to leave all of Gaza's 21 settlements and four settlements in the northern West Bank.

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