Settlers took to the rooftops in the tiny Gadid enclave shouting “Nazis” as security forces swept in, hours after clearing Gaza’s main anti-pullout strongholds to break the back of opposition to ending nearly four decades of occupation.

With more than 80 percent of Gaza’s 8,500 settlers evacuated and the latest poll confirming solid public support for the pullout, troops rushed to wrap up their toughest tasks before the start of Jewish Sabbath at sundown, when work must stop.

Many of Gadid’s 350 residents had already left but a few families and dozens of protesters remained, in defiance of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan for the first removal of Jewish enclaves from land Palestinians want for a state.

Columns of black smoke rose from piles of burning tyres and debris as security forces took up position around the settlement’s synagogue, where about 25 settlers and supporters were barricaded inside.

After negotiations failed, troops stormed two synagogues in hardline settlements on Thursday -- one in Neve Dekalim, the biggest Gaza enclave, and the other in the religious community of Kfar Darom, scene of the most frenzied clashes.

Police used cranes and water cannon to battle protesters on the roof of Kfar Darom’s house of worship. They fought back with rocks, paint-filled light bulbs and chemical irritants. The army said 31 security personnel were hurt.

Pullout opponents were also dragged kicking and screaming from Neve Dekalim’s synagogue after troops moved in.

“I am totally exhausted, but it has not been for nothing,” said protester Shlomit Binyamin, 17, in Neve Dekalim. “I hope the people of Israel will ensure there will be no more disengagement. We must continue the fight.”

Dramatic television footage beamed around the world showed Israeli forces for hours forcibly evacuating settlers, and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had shown courage by carrying out the pullout.

Along with a hard core of settlers holding out to the end, hundreds of rightist pullout opponents who had infiltrated settlements in the past few weeks have also been expelled or detained. The army said 160 were arrested in Kfar Darom.

Israeli opponents call the withdrawal a victory for Palestinian militants -- a view echoed by the gunmen -- as well as the betrayal of a biblical claim that could set a precedent elsewhere.

Sharon dubs the pullout “disengagement” from conflict with the Palestinians. A new opinion poll for the daily Yedioth Ahronoth showed 59 percent support it, and 61 percent believed Sharon had shown good or very good leadership.

Political analysts say the pullout could also reduce foreign pressure to give up bigger settlements in the West Bank, land the Palestinians also seek.

Palestinians welcome the withdrawal of the Gaza settlers and another 500 from the West Bank, but fear Israel aims to keep most of the other communities housing 230,000 settlers forever. Some 3.8 million Palestinians live in Gaza and the West Bank.

No life

Housing blocks in Neve Dekalim stood empty of life after the evacuations. A bicycle lay abandoned, ribbons in the orange protest colour of the settlers tied to its handlebars.

One family struggled to load a three-metre (10-foot) mango tree, planted when they moved to the settlement at its founding in 1983, aboard an evacuation bus.

The toughest resistance has come largely from young ultranationalists who had slipped into the settlements.

Most of the residents left peacefully after making their protest -- and possibly losing a slice of compensation money -- by staying beyond an official deadline. Many were carried from their homes weeping in anguish.

Seventeen of 21 Gaza settlements are now clear and officials said all may be empty by Tuesday, far sooner than first thought. Only isolated Netzarim looms as a potential trouble spot. But community leaders said they had agreed to leave on Monday.

Two of four West Bank settlements on the evacuation list are already empty and attention is expected to move quickly to the others. In a sign the protesters have not given up, though, they blocked the road from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv on Thursday night.

The White House, which sees the withdrawal as a way to boost peacemaking prospects, praised Israel’s pullout on Thursday and said it would strengthen ties. Israel seeks $2.2 billion in aid from its US ally after the withdrawal.

Sharon has said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas must dismantle powerful militant factions before there can be any progress to statehood talks under a US-sponsored “road map”.

In a statement Annan, the U.N. chief, urged Palestinian leaders to show their commitment to peace and security “by establishing the rule of law in Gaza following the withdrawal”. He urged both sides to exercise restraint.

Israel says the pullout will end its occupation of Gaza, but Palestinians say that can only happen once they gain full control of borders and airspace. Israel is reluctant to allow that for now, citing security reasons.

The World Court brands settlements illegal. Israel disputes this.