News Service from House Harris

MID: Gaza calm as Israeli troops begin pullout

GAZA CITY, Jan 19 Agencies - Gaza remains calm as Israeli troops begin withdrawing after their deadly 22-day onslaught in the battered territory was halted by a fragile ceasefire deal.

As Palestinians on Monday began counting the cost of Israel's deadliest offensive in the impoverished coastal strip Hamas leader Ismail Haniya claimed a "great victory" in the three-week war, which reduced swathes of Gaza to smouldering rubble.

As Israel insisted it wanted to leave Gaza as quickly as possible, Hamas and other militant groups said they would hold their fire for one week to allow the troops to withdraw.

"God has granted us a great victory, not for one faction, or party, or area, but for our entire people," said Haniya, Hamas' prime minister, in a televised address.

"We have stopped the aggression and the enemy has failed to achieve any of its goals."

As medics scrambled to pull dozens of bodies from the mountains of rubble left by Israel's three-week offensive, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel intended to withdraw troops "as quickly as possible".

The world welcomed the apparent end to the latest round of fighting in the Middle East.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urged a quick influx of humanitarian aid to the isolated enclave, and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - in the final days of her tenure - said a ceasefire must be durable.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed Israel's ceasefire but said it was "only a first step" and must go further.

"We should immediately convene a major international conference which would allow us to establish peace this year," Sarkozy said.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged Israel to reopen the crossings to long-blockaded Gaza, saying a sustainable ceasefire would require "humanitarian access" to the territory.

The delegation from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, attended a dinner in Jerusalem with Olmert late on Sunday after earlier participating in a summit in Egypt aimed at shoring up the truce.

A senior Israeli official said Olmert had thanked the European leaders for their support for Israel's concerns and had urged them to follow through on their commitments to combat weapons smuggling into the Gaza Strip.

"He urged them to follow through their commitments on smuggling and efforts to stop the rearmament of Hamas," the official said.

Egypt held separate talks with Hamas and President Hosni Mubarak announced plans to host an international aid conference to help rebuild Gaza.

After exchanges of gunfire and an air strike punctured what Olmert acknowledged was a "fragile" unilateral ceasefire, Hamas and other militant groups announced a one-week truce of their own.

"(We) demand that enemy forces withdraw in a week and open all the border crossings to permit the entry of humanitarian aid and basic goods," Mussa Abu Marzuk, the deputy leader of Hamas's politburo, said in Damascus.

Gaza militants, however, fired at least 18 rockets and mortar rounds at Israel following Olmert's announcement, the army said.

The military confirmed troop withdrawals had begun after witnesses in Gaza City saw troops pulling back towards the border fence.

Israeli soldiers were seen dancing on top of a tank and gave "V" for victory signs as they pulled out of Gaza.

Olmert on Saturday said he had ordered an end to the Gaza offensive but warned troops would return fire if attacked.

After the ceasefire came into effect at 2am (1100 AEDT Sunday), Gaza enjoyed its first bomb-free night in more than three weeks, but there were soon signs that the calm may unravel.

As militants fired rockets and Israel launched retaliatory air strikes, troops killed an eight-year-old girl in the northern town of Beit Hanun and a 20-year-old man near Khan Yunis in the south, medics said.

Gaza medics took advantage of the halt in the fighting to rush to areas that had been inaccessible, pulling at least 95 bodies from the rubble, including those of several children.

The discoveries brought the overall death toll since Israel launched Operation Cast Lead on December 27 to more than 1,300, medics said.

On the ground, residents cautiously ventured out onto the streets.

"Everything has been completely destroyed," said Yahia Karin, 54, in Zeitun, a Gaza City neighbourhood ravaged by furious battles between Israeli ground troops and Hamas militants.

Bulldozers shoved aside rubble while men tugged at piles of masonry with their hands and plucked decomposing bodies from the debris.

People recovered televisions and anything else of value from piles of debris, or loaded vans and donkey carts with belongings and ventured home.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas repeated his call for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the reopening of the enclave's border crossings.

Israel and Egypt have sealed Gaza off from all but vital humanitarian aid since Hamas seized power there in June 2007.