Tel Aviv, Jan. 7 : Israel will set up a "humanitarian corridor" for the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert''s office said, after aid agencies complained of a mounting crisis for the enclave''s 1.5 million Palestinians.

The Telegraph quoted Olmert''s office as saying in a statement that the corridor had been recommended by Israel''s military chiefs and would entail granting periodic access to various areas of the strip to allow Palestinians to stock up on vital goods.

An Olmert spokesman, Mark Regev, described the measure as a "special status to allow the transfer of people, foodstuffs and medicines" and said it could be implemented on Wednesday.

It comes as the first signs of a ceasefire in Gaza have emerged as an Egyptian-brokered settlement appeared to be gaining broad support.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said Washington backs a proposal by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to end the fighting in Gaza.

"We need urgently to conclude a ceasefire that can endure and that can bring real security," Miss Rice told the special session of the UN Security Council in New York on Tuesday.

Earlier, Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, indicated that he was open to international efforts to end hostilities against the Hamas.

He said the fighting could stop if Israel was sure that supplies of weapons to Hamas would be severed by international monitoring of Gaza''s border with Egypt.

Militant fighters have launched thousands of rockets at southern Israel and the prime goal of the offensive is to halt this barrage. (ANI)