GAZA CITY [MENL] -- A team of international observers plan to monitor the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian Authority officials said the observers would establish a command and control facility to monitor the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in August 2005. The officials said the observers would also seek to serve as liasions between Israeli and Palestinian forces.

The observer team at the C2 headquarters would consist of military representatives from Britain, Egypt, Jordan and the United States. Officials said the team would begin to arrive in the Gaza Strip by early July.

The team would also monitor the Israeli evacuation of the 21 Israeli communities in the Gaza Strip and eviction of their 9,000 residents. Officials said the C2 facility would seek to ensure that Palestinian insurgents do not hamper the Israeli military operation by firing on either Israeli soldiers or civilians.