Indians in the Neveh Dekalim settlement of Gaza Strip said they had 'accepted their fate' and were ready to leave as thousands of Israeli security forces entered the area to evict Jewish settlers who refused to move out voluntarily.
"It is unthinkable for us to fight against our own army. What is depressing is the way our contribution to this country has been ignored and how we have been made to look like miscreants," Avin Gangte, leader of the Bnei Menashe community, hailing from Manipur and Mizoram, told PTI.
Indians form the single largest immigrant community in the Gaza Strip. "Evacuation looks inevitable and we can't get violent against our own people. There have been clashes here since Wednesday morning but we have accepted this fate and will move out if that's what the government wants," a community member told PTI asking not to be named.
Israeli security forces have encountered violent resistance from settlers and pullout opponents who had infiltrated into this largest settlement of the Gaza Strip.
The protestors, who were opposing the Israeli pullout, threw eggs and water bottles at security force personnel as they entered the area to forcibly evict them following the expiry of the deadline to leave the settlement voluntarily.
"Police scuffled with a large crowd, grabbed settlers and pushed them into buses," Amos, a witness, said.
Police arrested about 20 protesters and placed them in a bus. Gangte said they are likely to be taken to Mirkaz Shapira, near Gaza, first and then moved out to hotels in Ashkelon in the South of Israel and Jerusalem.
Some 9 families from the group, which were related to each other, had left for the northern part of Israel a few weeks back but the overwhelming majority chose to stay put with the settlers in resisting the evacuation plan.
Students of the Torat Haim Yeshiva in Neveh Dekalim, which had seen violent protests earlier, were surprisingly packing when the troops arrived.
About 210 of the 470 families in Neveh Dekalim had already left by Tuesday midnight, official sources said.
The more than 15,000 police officers and soldiers deployed in Gush Katif also marched into the Gaza settlements of Ganei Tal, Bedolah and Tel Katifa to begin the forced evacuation.
The army is allowing those settlers who don't clash with the security forces to leave the settlements in their own cars.
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