Israeli soldiers clashed with a group of young Jewish settlers during an operation to evict the youths who had taken over an abandoned Palestinian house to set up an outpost near this Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip. Dozens of youths exchanged blows with about 50 soldiers as other young settlers rushed to the scene to help their comrades, the Associated Press reported. The settlers established the outpost earlier this week after Israeli troops demolished 11 nearby buildings. Authorities fear the young settlers plan to use the buildings as centers of resistance during Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, scheduled to begin in mid-August.
