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Israel called a halt to its bombardment of Gaza tonight after winning American and European pledges of support to shut down the Hamas weapons supply pipeline.
The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, effectively 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 remain 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 tonight, that would end three weeks of bombardment by air, sea and land that has claimed the lives of about 1,200 Palestinians, one-third of them children and young people.
Olmert declared the operation had achieved its primary goals of curbing Hamas rocket fire in to 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 in to 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 so long as thousands of Israeli soldiers and tanks continued to occupy swathes 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 to protect Israeli children. "We feel the pain of every Palestinian child," he said. "Any shout of pain touches us all."
Egypt has called a summit of world leaders in Sharm al Sheik tomorrow 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 UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon. 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 under the border with Egypt. Europe has also offered assistance in monitoring weapons shipments from country's 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 prepared to help ensure proper protection and monitoring of the crossings into the enclave.
"Germany, France and Great Britain have just sent a letter to Israel and Egypt to say we will do everything we can to prevent arms trafficking which is at the root of some of the problems... I believe that will help get a solution to this crisis," he said.
But tonight 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 and Egypt's ability to protect its borders", 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 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 other people died in other parts of the Gaza strip. Today 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 into the third floor of a UN school, you have to have an investigation to see if a war crime has been committed," said the UN spokesman, Christopher Gunness.
A demonstration against Israeli attacks on Gaza ended in violence tonight after protesters looted and damaged shops. Scotland Yard said it was investigating the damage in central London, which was thought to be targeted at coffee shop chain Starbucks for the second week running.