Blast Rocks Gaza During Protest

Witnesses Say 1 Palestinian Boy Killed As Israelis Rally

(CBS/AP)  Following the rally, the protesters planned to spend the night in Ofakim — an Israeli town about 20 miles from Gaza. Police officials said they reached an agreement with settler leaders that would allow the protesters to stay in Ofakim until Friday, but some settler leaders said they would begin marching Wednesday to Gush Katif.

Authorities said 15,000 police and soldiers would form human chains and erect roadblocks throughout the area to stop the march. By the evening, groups of soldiers gathered outside Sderot to prevent anyone from trying to march to Gaza from here.

Thousands of protesters wearing shirts and ribbons the orange color of the protest movement — many of them teenagers and parents with small children — descended on an open field next to a sports center in the middle of Sderot and posters lashing the pullout were plastered across the town. Buses and cars caused traffic jams as they descended on Sderot.

Over the stage hung a sign that said "Mass march to Gush Katif." It was the same sign over the stage at a rally two weeks ago in the nearby town of Netivot. Police and soldiers prevented those protesters from getting anywhere near Gaza, herding them into the small community of Kfar Maimon, where they stayed for three days in the blistering heat before dispersing.

Some of the protesters in Sderot said there was really no chance for them to stop the pullout.

"It seems that it is too late," said Alain Bismuth, 40, from the northern town of Haifa. He said he came simply to show that there are many Israelis opposed to the plan.

Others still had hope.

"Everything we do changes things," said Shmuel Lax, 30, of Neve Tsuf.

"We are going to be strong and God will help us and hear our prayers and our demonstrations," hardline lawmaker Benny Elon said.

Police had originally said they would limit the crowd to 5,000, but later estimated 10,000 people were at the rally, roughly half the number at the Netivot rally.

Israel plans to pull out of all 21 Gaza Strip settlements and four in the West Bank in mid-August, uprooting about 9,000 settlers. The government says more than half of the settlers have agreed to leave voluntarily and expect more to follow before the withdrawal date.

But some settler leaders and their supporters plan fierce resistance.

More than 200,000 settlers live in other parts of the West Bank, and their leaders fear the Gaza pullout could be the beginning of further withdrawals from land claimed by the Palestinians. Observant Jews believe the West Bank is promised to the Jews in the Bible.

On Sunday, the Cabinet will formally vote on the evacuation of the first group of settlements, a government official said. In March, the Cabinet approved the overall withdrawal plan, but agreed to vote again separately before the evacuation of each of four groups of settlements. The pullout is expected pass easily.

Despite the settler protests, Israeli military commanders will meet their Palestinian counterparts on Wednesday to continue efforts to coordinate the withdrawal, the Palestinian Interior Ministry said.