A ceasefire between Israel and militants in Gaza went into effect today and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, promising restraint after early Palestinian violations, said the truce could help revive peacemaking.
The agreement is designed to end rocket attacks and halt a crushing Israeli army offensive that was launched after gunmen seized a soldier in a cross-border raid last June.
Mr Olmert said he hoped the soldier would now be freed. "All of these things ultimately could lead to one thing - the opening of serious, real, open and direct negotiations between us," Mr Olmert said.
"So that we can move forward towards a comprehensive agreement between us and the Palestinians." Palestinian militants fired several rockets at Israel just hours after the start of the ceasefire.
"We will show the necessary restraint and patience, certainly in the coming days," Mr Olmert said in southern Israel.
The Israeli army pulled forces out of Gaza overnight, before the ceasefire took effect. Palestinian witnesses confirmed that soldiers had left northern Gaza, where operations against rocket-launching squads had been focused. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the violations of the truce and instructed security commanders to ensure that the ceasefire held.
Mr Abbas's forces were ordered to start patrols at the border to prevent rocket fire. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for launching at least five rockets into southern Israel and said it would not agree to a ceasefire unless Israeli military activity also ended in the occupied West Bank. No one was hurt in the attacks.
The armed wing of the governing Hamas Islamic group said it fired two rockets. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Abbas's Fatah movement, also said they launched two rockets. Palestinian Prime Minister and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said all major factions had agreed to end rocket fire after the earlier violations "in the higher national interest".
More than 400 Palestinians, about half of them militants, have been killed in the offensive, Palestinian hospital officials and residents say. Three Israeli soldiers and two civilians have been killed since the assault began.
"Thanks to God the Israeli forces have quit our land in defeat. We feel like victors," said Abdel-Majid Ash-Shanti (23) who lives in northern Gaza. In Sderot, the southern Israeli town that has felt the brunt of rocket attacks, there was scepticism. "There is no ceasefire," said mayor Eli Moyal, dashing for shelter as a warning came of new rocket attacks.
The ceasefire could pave the way for a summit between Mr Abbas and Mr Olmert on ways to restart peacemaking that collapsed before the start of a Palestinian uprising in 2000.
Adherence to the truce could help Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas finalise talks on forming a unity government that Palestinians hope might ease Western sanctions imposed after the Islamist group took office in March.
Hamas was instrumental in bringing about the latest truce, but is formally dedicated to destroying Israel. A halt to rocket attacks could also reduce pressure on Mr Olmert at home, where his popularity has flagged after a July-August war against Hizbullah guerrillas in Lebanon that ended inconclusively with a UN-brokered truce.
The ceasefire agreement came days before US President George W. Bush is due to the visit the Middle East, stopping in Jordan for talks expected to touch on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as Iraq.