Israeli police on Wednesday night arrested 250 opponents of a pullout who attempted to illegally infiltrate into the Gaza Strip and reach the Gush Katif settlement bloc, the Ha'aretz daily reported on Thursday.

The opponents were arrested because they tried to head off the withdrawal from Gaza Jewish settlements, police said, adding all detainees were being moved to the Israeli city Beersheva for further investigation.

Settlers claimed that despite the arrest, some 1,000 anti- pullout activists succeeded in entering Gush Katif overnight.

Meanwhile, most of anti-pullout demonstrators left their campsite at the southern Israeli village of Kfar Maimon before dawn on Thursday after a three-day mass protest march, police told Israel Radio.

Only around 1,500 protesters remained there, according to the police.

The Yesha Council, a settlers' council and organizer of the protest march, had decided earlier to leave a limited amount of protesters in the area waiting to enter the Gaza Strip.

Southern Command of the Israel Defense Forces Major General Dan Harel said troops had reinforced at the border with Gaza after the protestors threatened to infiltrate into the Gush Katif settlement bloc.

Israel is planned to evacuate all the 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four of 120 in the West Bank due to start in mid-August.

The pullout, designed by the Israeli government as the " disengagement" from conflicts with the Palestinians, has met with opposition from ultranationalists and settlers.

Source: Xinhua