NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip – Slowly and deliberately, Israeli police and army troops removed by force Jewish families from their homes in the Gaza Strip yesterday, 48 hours after the evacuation deadline. Although the operation for the most part proceeded smoothly, scattered skirmishes broke out and about 600 residents remained in their settlements as of last night.

A terrorist act in the West Bank, in which a Jew opened fire in a settlement’s town square and killed four Arab civilians, served as a stark reminder that the Gaza operation is not as straightforward as Israeli security forces, who have spent months in training for the pullout, made it look yesterday. Commanders in Gaza were aware of the potential for future violence and expressed concern that a volatile situation could flare up there at any time.

According to Israeli press reports, tens of thousands of young protesters were attempting to enter Gaza last night.

Also last night, defiant protesters took a stand against Prime Minister Sharon’s separation plan inside a synagogue compound in Neve Dekalim, considered the capital of the largest Jewish settlement cluster in Gaza, Gush Katif. Police said they would temporarily delay removing settler supporters from the synagogue area, but it seemed that officers would attempt to complete the evacuation as early as this morning.

Police and troops clashed yesterday with protestors, mostly with teenagers who illegally infiltrated several Gaza settlements in the last few weeks. Arrests were made throughout the day, and lawbreakers were hauled out of Gaza by the busload into Israel proper. Buses crossed back and forth across the border all day, carrying not only the infiltrators, but also longtime Gush Katif residents who were removed physically after having refused to leave of their own volition.

In the West Bank settlement of Shiloh, meanwhile, a Jew, Asher Weisgan, 40, stole a security guard’s M-16 submachine gun and went on a shooting rampage, killing three Arabs and seriously wounding at least one, who later died.

“I did it to stop the separation plan,” Mr. Weisgan told police interrogators, according to Israel Channel 1 television. In a statement released shortly after the incident, Prime Minister Sharon called the shooting an act of “Jewish terrorism,” and said that it will be dealt with in the most severe manner.

“This is a very serious incident,” the southern district army commander charged with evacuating Gaza, Major General Dan Harel, told The New York Sun, adding that the shooting could complicate his mission. He was concerned about Arab retaliatory attempts that would increase tensions, he said.

The terrorist organization Hamas quickly released a statement threatening retaliation. According to the Associated Press, a mortar shell fell near Israeli soldiers in Gaza, and young Palestinian Arabs threw rocks at an Israeli tank outside Neve Dekalim. There were no causalties. Separately, Channel 2 TV reported that an explosives belt was found near the fence surrounding Neve Dekalim, possibly intended for detonation during the evacuations of one of the nearby settlements.

A police and army force of 15,000 entered Neve Dekalim through the settlement’s gate at 8:30 a.m. yesterday, walking up to its circular main street.

An hour earlier, a smiling 51-year-old with a long beard, Daniel Halevy, stood before the house he and his wife moved into shortly after they married 22 years ago, at the end of their army service. He had sent away his possessions, he said, and was waiting for the policemen to remove him and his family.

Mr. Halevy said that he decided to defy the order to leave by midnight Tuesday, risking the loss of up to a third of the compensation package offered to settlers by the Israeli government. Although he did not plan to physically disobey the evacuation order, he said he stayed “for the kids,” not wanting his children to see him depart willingly.

Mr. Halevy continued to water his lawn. “We all live here, so I water,” he said, pointing to an expertly pruned grapefruit tree bearing healthy clusters of green fruit. “They will be ripe by Sukkot,” he said, referring to the holiday of tabernacles, which this year will be celebrated in October. If the tree is somehow not uprooted, someone else will enjoy the fruit, he said.

In marked contrast to Mr. Halevy’s dignity, taunting non-resident demonstrators tried the patience of police and army troops. They repeatedly called the troops “Nazis,” challenged the officers to look them in the eye, and urged forces to defy orders. Some pinned yellow stars to their chests. Garbage cans were turned over and set on fire, and at times demonstrators ran through town holding torah scrolls, crying and screaming.

According to General Harel, there were more serious incidents as well. “There were at least 10 cases in which people either were barricaded in a house armed with weapons, or threatened suicide,” he told the Sun. All, he said, were handled successfully by mid-level commanders.

Paint-filled light bulbs and plastic containers, as well as eggs and other objects, were lobbed at policemen and army troops, who were instructed to respond with sensitivity. A circle of teenagers at one point overtook a main traffic artery, sitting down on the road and singing Hasidic and national Israeli songs. The deputy commander of the police force in Gush Katif, General Meir Ben Yishai, was unfazed. Rather than ordering his troops to disperse the crowd, he sat down and started singing along with the kids, displaying an impressive command of their repertoire’s lyrics.

By nightfall nearly two thirds of the 460 families living in Neve Dekalim had been evacuated. Overall, 1,842 people were evacuated yesterday and of the 1,600 families in Gaza’s 21 Jewish settlements, 600 remained at the end of the day, the Associated Press reported.

Knesset Member Aryeh Eldad, of the rightist National Unity party, blamed the settlers’ leaders for the lost battle over Gaza, saying they decided to obey laws. But the head of the settler movement YESHA, Bentzi Lieberman, told the Sun the battle over Gush Katif was a great display of power, assuring that “There will never be the next step.”