A ceasefire between Israel and militants in Gaza took hold on Sunday and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised restraint in response to early Palestinian truce violations.
Olmert voiced hope the deal could help revive peacemaking that collapsed before a Palestinian uprising began in 2000.
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. 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," Olmert said. "So that we can move forward towards a comprehensive agreement between us and the Palestinians."
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," 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.
Before Saturday, there had been little sign a truce was imminent. e and show progress towards ending decades of conflict.
A deal could also ease domestic pressure on Olmert and help end months of Palestinian political deadlock.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate, instructed security chiefs to ensure the ceasefire held. Palestinian forces in helmets and flak jackets patrolled near Gaza's borders. One official said 13,000 men were on the ground to stop rocket fire.
Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, from the governing Hamas Islamist group, said all main factions had agreed - after the initial violations - that they now would maintain the truce.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for launching at least five rockets into southern Israel on Sunday. Hamas's own armed wing and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Abbas's Fatah, also said they had launched rockets.
RELIEF AND SCEPTICISM:
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 a rocket attack.
The ceasefire could pave the way for a summit between Abbas and Olmert on ways to restart peacemaking.
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