Israel withdrew the last of its troops from the Gaza Strip before dawn Wednesday, the military said, and pursued diplomatic efforts to stanch the flow of arms into the Hamas-ruled territory.
The timing of the pullout reflected Israeli hopes to defuse the crisis in Gaza before President Barack Obama entered the White House.
The military said troops [...]

Israel plans to pull all of its troops out of the Gaza Strip by the time President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated Tuesday, but only if Hamas militants hold their fire, Israeli officials said.
Thousands of troops have left Gaza since Israel declared Saturday its intention to unilaterally halt fire after a devastating, three-week Israeli onslaught.
Gaza’s Hamas [...]

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel announced late Saturday night that the Israeli military would begin a unilateral cease-fire in Gaza within hours while negotiations continued on how to stop the resupply of Hamas through smuggling from Egypt.
Mr. Olmert, who said all Israeli objectives for the war had been reached, said Israel was responding positively [...]

Israel bombarded dozens of Hamas targets Saturday hours before a government vote on an Egyptian brokered cease-fire, prompting Egypt to demand an immediate halt to the 3-week-old Gaza offensive.
Hamas sent mixed signals about whether it will accept the cease-fire proposal. Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman linked to the group’s leadership-in-exile in Syria, said militants would [...]

Israel said it was approaching the “endgame” of its three-week offensive against Gaza’s Hamas rulers and scheduled a Security Cabinet vote Saturday on a truce proposed by Egypt.
If Israel agrees to stop shooting, Israel radio said a truce summit would be held in Cairo Sunday with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Israeli leaders expected to [...]

Israeli warplanes pounded the homes of Hamas leaders and ground troops edged closer to the Gaza Strip’s densely populated urban center Monday, as Israel weighed a decision to escalate its devastating offensive.
Despite the tightening Israeli cordon, militants managed to fire off at least 15 rockets Monday.
There were no reports of injuries, though one rocket hit [...]

A top Hamas leader says the Gaza war has killed the last chance for settlement and negotiations with Israel.
Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal condemned Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip as a “holocaust” in a fiery speech broadcast on the Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera
Mashaal’s comments Saturday come as Hamas teams are in Cairo to negotiate [...]