Israel Announces Ceasefire in Gaza

Israeli leaders have voted to halt an offensive that has left nearly 1,200 in the Gaza Strip dead.

In announcing the unilateral ceasefire, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert claimed that Israel had achieved its goals. He said in a televised address: "Hamas was hit hard, in its military arms and in its government institutions."

Fighting will stop at 2am local time (midnight GMT), but Israel will keep troops on the ground for the time being, Olmert said.

Israeli insistence on keeping troops in Gaza raises the specter of a stalemate with Hamas, which has repeated that it will not respect any ceasefire until Israel pulls out of the territory.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum in Gaza said today that a unilateral ceasefire was not enough to end Hamas' resistance.

"The occupier must halt his fire immediately and withdraw from our land and lift his blockade and open all crossings and we will not accept any one Zionist soldier on our land, regardless of the price that it costs," Barhoum said.

More than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in the three weeks of violence, according to Palestinian and UN officials. Thirteen Israelis have also died.

A summit aimed at giving international backing to the ceasefire will be held in Egypt tomorrow. It is to be attended by the leaders of Germany, France, Spain, Britain, Italy, Turkey and the Czech Republic - which holds the rotating EU presidency - as well as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Mubarak and UN secretary-general Ban-ki Moon.

More details soon ...