NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip - Ecstatic crowds of Palestinians flooded into empty Jewish settlements early today, setting abandoned synagogues on fire in a chaotic celebration of the end of 38 years of Israeli military rule over the Gaza Strip.

Plans by Palestinian police to bar crowds from the settlements quickly disintegrated, and militant groups hoisted flags and fired wildly into the air, illustrating the weakness of the security forces and concerns about their ability to control growing chaos in Gaza. The pullout is widely seen as a test for Palestinian aspirations of statehood.

Just after sunrise, the last column of Israeli tanks rumbled out of Gaza. Troops locked a metal gate and hoisted their national flag, removed from the Gaza military headquarters, on the Israeli side of the border.

"The mission has been completed, and an era has ended," said Israel's Gaza commander, Brig. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, the last soldier to leave the strip.

As soldiers poured out of Gaza throughout the night, jubilant Palestinians rushed into the abandoned settlements, turning Gaza's night sky orange as fires roared across the settlements. Women shrieked in joy, teens set off fireworks and crowds chanted "God is great."

"Today is a day of joy and happiness that our people were deprived of in the past century," said Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, adding that the Palestinians still have a long path toward statehood. He denounced Israeli rule in Gaza as "aggression, injustice, humiliation, killing and settlement activity."

By midday, the situation had calmed, and curious Palestinians quietly toured the abandoned Jewish settlements, as feelings of newfound freedom began to sink in.

"Since last night, I have been in the street, for no reason, just to breathe the air of freedom," said Samir Khader, a farmer in northern Gaza who needed Israeli permits to go in and out of his village, flanked by Israeli settlements. "I don't know what the future will bring, but at least, I can come in and out of my house at any time."

Palestinians hope to build their state in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem - areas that Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War - but fear that Israel will not hand over additional territory. They say Israel's occupation of Gaza has not ended because it retains control over borders and the air space.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said he remains committed to the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, which calls for an independent Palestinian state, but linked any further withdrawals to Abbas' ability to rein in militant groups.

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz urged the Palestinians to impose law and order or face a tough response. "We shall know how to act decisively and intensively in the face of any terrorism," he said.