The move came as world leaders held a summit at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to discuss Gaza's future, and followed the firing of five missiles into Israel from Gaza this morning.

Speaking en route to the conference, Gordon Brown criticised Israel for using excessive force in its three-week military offensive and demanded that Israel allow humanitarian workers full access to Gaza.

The prime minister will be joined at today's meeting by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Egyptian leader, Hosni Mubarak. Israel is not sending a representative and Hamas, shunned internationally as a terrorist organisation, was not invited.

The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, today expressed hope that Israel's ceasefire would last, adding: "Urgent humanitarian access for the people of Gaza is the immediate priority."

Israel said earlier that it will not consider a timetable for withdrawing all of its forces from the Gaza Strip until Hamas and other militants ceased fire.

Five missiles were fired into Israel by militants this morning. No one was injured by the rockets, which landed near the town of Sderot. Israel responded with an air strike on the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun that wounded a woman and her child.

A Palestinian civilian was killed by Israeli forces near the Gazan town of Khan Younis after mortar bombs were fired from the area, medical workers said. He was the first fatality on either side of the frontier since Israel declared its ceasefire last night.

In another incident, militants fired small arms at an Israeli infantry patrol, which directed artillery and aircraft to strike back.

Tony Blair, the Middle East envoy, said today the ceasefire would only endure if the peace process was revitalised. He said there would be a renewed attempt to reconcile Hamas and its rival Fatah, which counts Abbas among its leaders.

Israel called the ceasefire after American and European pledges of support to shut down the weapons supply pipeline to Hamas.

In a televison address last night, the Israeli prime minister said Hamas's power was diminishing. "The conditions have been created that our aims, as declared, were attained fully, and beyond," he said. "The campaign has proven Israel's power and strengthened its deterrence."

The three weeks of bombardment by air, sea and land has claimed the lives of about 1,200 Palestinians, a third of them children and young people.

Olmert declared that the operation had achieved its primary goals of curbing Hamas rocket fire into Israel and securing Egypt's border with Gaza to end weapons smuggling into the Palestinian enclave.

Israeli defence officials said before Hamas's declaration that the invading forces would remain inside Gaza for several more days before beginning their pullout.

If Hamas holds its fire, the military "will weigh pulling out of Gaza at a time that befits us," Olmert said. If not, Israel "will continue to act to defend our residents."

Olmert said Israel did not hate Gazans but had launched the assault in order to protect Israeli children. "We feel the pain of every Palestinian child," he said. "Any shout of pain."

The US has agreed to provide intelligence and equipment to help prevent Hamas smuggling weapons into Gaza through tunnels. Europe has offered assistance in monitoring weapons shipments from countries such as Iran. With that deal in place, it appears 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 crossings into the enclave.

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