Neve Dekalim, Gaza Strip ? Jewish settlers in Gaza have collected hundreds of tents and are stockpiling food for thousands of supporters they expect to arrive in coming days to help resist this summer’s evacuation.

Removal of the 21 settlements from Gaza and four from the West Bank is shaping up as a traumatic social episode in Israel’s history. There are warnings of opposition, even armed resistance, against thousands of police and soldiers who are to take down veteran settlements in those territories for the first time.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, winding up a visit to the United States, told NBC News earlier this week that the atmosphere around the pullout “looks like the eve of the civil war.”

Settlers expect huge crowds to gather in Gaza to show solidarity during the weeklong Jewish holiday of Passover this month — and organizers are preparing for many of them to stay and oppose the evacuation, set for July.

The army says it has no intention of stopping the influx, even though the presence of thousands of protesters would further complicate the operation. There are plans to close the area in the weeks before the pullout.

On another matter Wednesday, Sharon appeared to rule out a unilateral military strike by Israel against Iran’s nuclear facilities, saying that any response to fears that Tehran is seeking to develop atomic weapons must be an international effort that his country would not lead.

Vice President Dick Cheney in January raised the possibility of an Israeli strike on Iran, saying that Israel “might well decide to act first” and let others “worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterward.”