Residents of the town of Evyatar in Samaria prepared to move out Friday afternoon, ahead of the 4:00 p.m. deadline set by the government as part of the deal to avoid a forced evacuation. Under the terms of the deal reached by the Defense Ministry and Evyatar's residents and signed by the Bennett government, all civilians must leave the area by 4:00 p.m., removing their personal belongings and turning over control of buildings at the site to the army. In exchange, the government has vowed not to demolish the town, and instead to use the buildings as a new IDF base. Soldiers have already begun to arrive on the scene ahead of the handover. The left-wing Peace Now movement protested the deal, and castigated the Labor and Meretz parties - both members of the coalition government - holding demonstrations outside the homes of Labor chief Minister Meirav Michaeli and Meretz chief Minister Nitzan Horowitz.
