Israel Completes Gaza Withdrawal

Israeli forces completed their withdrawal from Gaza early today and have taken up positions along the perimeter of the Palestinian territory, according to a military spokesman.

The last armored units and foot patrols left three days after Israel and Hamas separately declared ceasefires. Officials had promised they would be out before the inauguration of the US president, Barack Obama.

"As of this morning, the last of the Israel defence forces soldiers have left the Gaza Strip and the forces have deployed outside of Gaza and are prepared for any occurrences," the military spokesman said.

Obama's predecessor, George Bush, endorsed Israel's right to enter the Gaza Strip in its efforts to defend itself against rocket fire from Hamas militants. The Israeli government was anxious to exit before the inauguration ceremony in Washington to avoid possible tensions at the start of a new era of diplomacy with its closest military ally.

On Sunday, after Israel has declared its truce, Hamas announced a ceasefire and demanded that Israeli troops quit the territory within a week. That condition now appears to have been met.

During the 22-day long offensive, around 1,300 Palestinians were killed and thousands made homeless. Medical officials in Gaza said the Palestinian dead included at least 700 civilians. Ten Israeli soldiers and three civilians hit by cross-border rocket fire were killed in the conflict.

Obama is expected to move quickly to name a Middle East envoy, possibly the former senator George Mitchell, who tried on behalf of the Clinton and Bush administrations to bring about an end to Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Hamas said it was continuing talks in Cairo over Egypt's proposal for a deal that would guarantee the reopening of Gaza border crossings, including a terminal on the Egyptian frontier that had served as the main exit from the territory.