Israel called a halt to its bombardment of Gaza last night after winning American and European pledges of support to shut down the Hamas weapons supply pipeline.
The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, in effect declared Hamas was broken, saying that its power is diminishing. "The conditions have been created that our aims, as declared, were attained fully, and beyond," he said in a televised address. "The campaign has proven Israel's power and strengthened its deterrence."
But Hamas said it would keep fighting for as long as Israeli troops remained in Gaza. "A unilateral ceasefire does not mean ending the aggression and ending the siege," a spokesman said. "These constitute acts of war, so this will not mean an end to resistance."
Israel's security cabinet backed Olmert's proposal for what he called a unilateral ceasefire, effective from midnight last night, that would end three weeks of bombardment by air, sea and land that has claimed the lives of about 1,200 Palestinians, a third of them children and young people.
Olmert declared that the operation had achieved its primary goals of curbing Hamas rocket fire into Israel - although it has failed to stop it completely, with 20 missiles fired into Israel on Friday alone - and securing Egypt's border with Gaza to end weapons smuggling into the Palestinian enclave.
Israeli defence officials said the invading forces would remain inside Gaza for several more days before beginning their pullout. Hamas said it would keep attacking as long as thousands of Israeli soldiers and tanks continued to occupy swaths of the Palestinian enclave.
Of Hamas, Olmert said: "If they continue shooting, we will act to protect our citizens." He said Hamas had been "badly hit" by the assault on Gaza, and described it as a proxy of Iran.
Olmert also addressed Gazans, saying that Israel does not hate them but launched the assault in order to protect Israeli children. "We feel the pain of every Palestinian child," he said. "Any shout of pain." Britain's foreign secretary, David Miliband, last night welcomed the ceasefire, saying it would be a "huge relief" and adding that too many lives had already been lost. He also called on Hamas to put an end to rocket attacks against Israeli civilians. The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said on Saturday he was relieved that Israel had called an end to hostilities. "This should be the first step leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza," he said.
Egypt has called a summit of world leaders in Sharm al-Sheikh today to discuss Gaza's future. It was reported that Gordon Brown would attend, along with the French and German leaders, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and the UN secretary general. But Olmert is not expected to be there.
The killing continued in the hours before the meeting, with the United Nations refugee agency for Palestinians calling for a war crimes investigation after Israeli forces killed two children when they shelled a school being used as a refugee centre in northern Gaza.
Israel's decision to halt the assault came after an agreement with the US for American intelligence and equipment to help prevent Hamas smuggling weapons into Gaza through tunnels.
Europe has also offered assistance in monitoring weapons shipments from countries such as Iran. With that deal in place, it appears that Israel decided it did not need to make the concessions demanded by Hamas for a ceasefire, particularly the lifting of the economic blockade of Gaza.
Britain has offered naval resources to help stop weapons being smuggled into Gaza, Brown said. The prime minister said he was also prepared to help ensure proper protection and monitoring of crossings into the enclave.
But last night Egypt's foreign minister dismissed a US-Israeli agreement aimed at cutting off weapons smuggling into the Gaza Strip, raising questions about how effective it would be in preventing arms from reaching Hamas. The US and Israel can "do what they wish with regard to the sea or any other country in Africa, but when it comes to Egyptian land, we are not bound by anything except the safety and national security of the Egyptian people", Ahmed Aboul Gheit told reporters.
The Israeli ceasefire also came after the exiled head of Hamas's political wing, Khaled Meshaal, told Arab leaders that the Islamist movement would not accept any ceasefire which did not provide for a full Israeli pullout and the opening of Gaza's borders. The unilateral move is also apparently intended to end the fighting before Barack Obama is sworn in as US president this week.
Ahead of the security cabinet meeting, Israel kept up its bombardment, killing two boys sheltering at a UN school and severing their mother's legs. At least five people died in other parts of the Gaza Strip. Yesterday the UN called for a war crimes investigation, saying that it had provided GPS co-ordinates and other details of the school to the Israeli military to protect civilians sheltering there.
"When you have a direct hit of a UN school, you have to have an investigation," said the UN spokesman, Christopher Gunness.
A demonstration in London against Israeli attacks on Gaza ended in violence last night after protesters looted and damaged shops. Scotland Yard said it was investigating the damage.