Related: Palestinian security forces start entering Gaza

Israeli soldiers salute as they lower a national flag during a ceremony marking an end to a 38-year occupation of the Palestinian territory at the headquarters in a former Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip, on Sept. 11, 2005. (Xinhua Photo)

    JERUSALEM, Sept. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) locked a gate between Israel and the Gaza Strip around 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) Monday, marking the end to 38 years of Israeli military rule.

    "The mission has been completed and an era has ended," said Aviv Kochavi, commander of the IDF forces in Gaza, at a brief ceremony.

    Just after sunrise, the last convoy of tanks rumbled out of theGaza Strip into Israel. Kochavi drove through the Kissufim crossing and became the last Israeli soldier to leave.

    Two soldiers in purple berets locked a gate at the border and Kochavi shook their hands. Israeli soldiers then raised the flag, removed from Gaza's military headquarters, on the Israeli side of the border.

    Kochavi's arrival capped a night-long evacuation of the around 3, 000 Israeli soldiers in Gaza, after clearing out the residents of the Strip last month.

    The convoys began rolling out of the Gaza Strip around 1 a.m. (2200 GMT Sunday)on Monday and flag-waving Palestinian police tookover the abandoned positions.

    Just before 3 a.m. (0000 GMT), the first IDF tank passed through the Kissufim crossing into Israel, and was followed by a long line of IDF armored vehicles. Enditem