GAZA (AP):

A ceasefire between Israel and militants in Gaza took hold yesterday and despite Palestinian rocket attacks in the first hours, Israel promised restraint.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the deal could help revive peacemaking that collapsed six years ago before a Palestinian uprising began.

For his part, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate, instructed security chiefs to clamp down on rocket firing by militants from the coastal strip into Israel.

The immediate aim is to end rocket fire from Gaza and halt a crushing Israeli army offensive 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."

Later, leaders of a number of militant factions met Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh from the governing Hamas Islamist group. All said they had agreed to observe the truce although one group expressed reservations.