September 12, 2005: Israeli troops leave Gaza Strip after 38 years

Last Israeli troops leave Gaza Strip after 38 years

2005 - Jubilant Palestinians planted flags on the rubble of Jewish colonies and set synagogues ablaze as Israeli troops pulled out of the Gaza Strip after 38 years of occupation. “This is a day of happiness and joy that the Palestinian people have not witnessed for a century,” President Mahmoud Abbas said in Gaza City. Palestinian forces waving victory signs took over while tanks and armoured vehicles trundled out in the dark, for the first time giving up colonies on land claimed by Palestinians. “The mission has been completed,” said Brigadier Aviv Kochavi after the gates closed at the main crossing point. Palestinians were furious when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Cabinet decided to leave synagogues intact, under pressure from rabbis.

September 12

1848 - Switzerland adopts new constitution as a federal union with strong central government.

1933 - Alejandro Lerroux forms new Spanish government.

1942 - A German U-boat sinks the British troop ship Laconia, killing more than 1,400 men in the Second World War.

1943 - German paratroopers take Benito Mussolini from the hotel where he is being held by the Italian government.

1953 - Nikita Khrushchev becomes first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.

1977 - South African black student leader Steven Biko dies in police custody, triggering an international outcry.

1980 - Turkish military seizes power and holds it until 1983.

1988 - Hurricane Gilbert slams into Jamaica with torrential rains, killing 45 people and causing damage estimated at $1 billion.

1990 - The United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union relinquish occupation rights in Germany.

1995 - The Belarusian military shoots down a helium balloon during an international race, killing its two American pilots.

1997 - Scotland votes in favour of setting up its own parliament for the first time in 300 years.

2003 - UN Security Council votes to lift sanctions against Libya that had been in place for 11 years.

2005 - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe quietly adopts constitutional changes.

2006 - The first Arab woman to head United Nations assembly, Shaikha Haya Rashid Al Khalifa, vows reforms.

2007 - A Philippines anti-graft court sentences former president Joseph Estrada to life imprisonment.

2012 - At least 280 people die in a garment factory blaze in Karachi, Pakistan.