ESHKOL, Israel, Aug. 16 (Xinhuanet) --As a midnight deadline neared for the forced evictions of Gaza Strip settlers, Israeli Defense Forces wished to end Gaza evacuations in 10 days.

    As planned, Israeli soldiers will start evacuating Gaza settlers from midnight Tuesday. Now the military hopes to cut the time of evacuating Gaza settlers from a maximum of three weeks to 10 days, though thousands of pullout opponents had infiltrated the settlements and made the situation more unpredictable, a senior Israeli Defense Forces officer said.

    Barring a last-minute disaster, it is possible to complete the evacuation by a week starting from Thursday, he said.

    In Neveh Dekalim, the major settlement in Gaza, police officers arrested about 50 young protesters and ejected them to some 300 meters outside the settlement's main gate.

    On Tuesday afternoon, while the clashes between the two sides were at their peak, an understanding was reached between the army and the settlement's secretariat. Under the deal, solders would pull back to the main entrance gate, and the secretariat would allow the entry of another 13 shipping containers.

    Meanwhile, a force of more than 1,000 Israeli troops moved late Tuesday into Neveh Dekalim, going door-to-door in a last-minute effort to convince settlers to leave voluntarily ahead of the deadline.

    The soldiers moved past tires set afire by protesters in the streets of the largest settlement in the Strip.

    "It is not unreasonable that the evacuation of Neve Dekalim could take 24 hours," one senior officer said. Enditem