Israel Defense Forces troops will halt operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as of Friday night, to avoid interfering with Sunday's Palestinian elections, Israel Radio reported.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said the IDF has already begun to pull troops out of the West Bank cities.

Soldiers were preparing to redeploy for the elections, so that they would remain away from Palestinian cities, a security source said.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian National Authority Central Election Committee said preparations for the voting have been completed.

According to data provided by the committee, 1,757,756 eligible voters will cast their votes in 1,072 centers in the territories, where a total of 2,800 ballot boxes will await them.

Some 800 foreign observers representing various countries and non-governmental organizations have arrived, who will join some 20,000 local observers representing the candidates and various Palestinian organizations to monitor the elections.