Jerusalem ? Israel’s Cabinet approved a compensation plan Sunday for settlers who will be uprooted by Ariel Sharon’s plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank, handing the prime minister an important victory two days before a showdown in parliament over the pullout.

Meanwhile, a team of Tunisian doctors examined Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat — who is recovering from the flu — and pronounced him “OK” Sunday despite speculation he might be suffering something more serious.

In southern Gaza, Israeli aircraft and tanks launched a series of strikes in the Khan Younis refugee camp late Sunday and early today that killed five Palestinians and wounded 23 others.

Violence in Gaza has increased in the months since Sharon announced his “unilateral disengagement” plan to pull out of Gaza and four West Bank settlements next year.

The Cabinet-approved compensation program, which passed in a 13-6 vote, is a key part of Sharon’s withdrawal plan. The victory, though expected, gave Sharon important momentum in the run-up to a far more important test Tuesday, when the Knesset votes for the first time on the entire withdrawal plan. Sharon also is expected to win that vote, but he needs a strong majority to marginalize his opponents.

“The train has left the station, the implementation is under way,” government spokesman Raanan Gissin said of Sharon’s plan. “After the Knesset vote on Tuesday we will be in an irreversible process.”

Even if Sharon wins Tuesday’s vote, parliament and the Cabinet will have to vote at least once more — and perhaps several more times — to approve actual evacuations, giving the plan’s highly organized opponents more chances to torpedo it.

Sharon’s government also might fall on other issues, including the budget, which could deal a fatal blow to the withdrawal plan.