Israeli forces killed 10 Palestinians in a swoop on a Gaza refugee camp yesterday as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sought parliamentary approval for his plan to withdraw from the occupied territory.

Eight Palestinians were killed in overnight Israeli air strikes on Khan Younis refugee camp and soldiers shot dead two more, including an 11-year-old boy, in crowds of stone-throwing youths confronting a raid by tanks and infantry. The overnight raid, in which 33 Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were also wounded, followed a spate of mortar fire from Khan Younis on nearby Jewish settlements.

The violence came hours before parliament was set to start debating Sharon's plan to dismantle all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and four of the 120 in the West Bank. If implemented, it would be Israel's first removal of settlements from territories occupied in the 1967 Middle East war where Palestinians want to establish a future state.

Polls show most Israelis back Sharon's plan and it is likely to pass with 67 of the 120 votes in the Knesset when it comes up for ratification on Tuesday – but only with support of left-wing opposition deputies. Sharon, a former army general, insists the Gaza withdrawal slated for next year would make Israel easier to defend while strengthening its hold on far bigger West Bank settlements.

Many of Sharon's fellow rightists say the plan rewards Palestinian violence while betraying lands claimed by Jews as biblical lands. Sharon has stepped up military action in Gaza to try to blunt criticism of his plan. Gaza militants see Sharon's plan as a victory after four years of revolt and violence has soared in anticipation of an Israeli pullback from Gaza, where some 8,000 Jews live in fortified enclaves among 1.3 million Palestinians.

<B>Street showdown over plan </B>

Fearing threats to legislators from extremists, Israeli police planned to deploy heavily in Jerusalem for the Knesset session. Army Radio said helicopters were ready to airlift lawmakers to parliament if crowds of protesters for and against the Gaza plan blocked road access.

Pro-settler activists promised to hold rallies during the debate in a show of strength. Left-wingers will march to urge the government to negotiate any pullout with the Palestinians. “We are prepared with enough forces to provide an answer to any type of event that could develop at the government complex over the next two days,” city police chief Ilan Franco said. Sharon's cabinet approved a bill on Sunday to compensate evacuated settlers and penalise those who resist.

“The prime minister is fully determined to go through with the disengagement plan and he is going at it full steam ahead,” said David Baker, an official from the prime minister's office. Most Palestinians suspect the US-backed plan will kill off deadlocked peace negotiations and leave them only impoverished Gaza and with separate enclaves in the West Bank, thus killing their aspirations for a viable state.

Even if Sharon wins Knesset ratification, his government could be brought down by an imminent debate over the 2005 budget, if Likud rebels side with the Labour opposition as a way to stop the withdrawal from Gaza. Actually abandoning settlements would also require another cabinet vote in March.

Those settlers who are willingly relocated could get up to $500,000 per family for leaving the settlements next year. Any one who clashes with the soldiers evicting them faces up to five years in jail. Some settler leaders and rabbis have encouraged troops to refuse evacuation orders, sparking charges from Sharon's allies that ultra-nationalists could trigger civil war. Security has been stepped up around Sharon amid assassination fears.

<B>Nidal al-Mughrabi</B>