Ramallah  - US President Barack Obama on Wednesday promised his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas to work for peace in the Middle East, according to Abbas' spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh.

In a statement published on the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, Abu Rudeineh said Obama made his first call to Abbas since Obama assumed office on Tuesday, assuring the Palestinian leader that he and his administration "will do all they can to bring peace to the region."

Tel Aviv - Israel pulled the last of its soldiers out the Gaza Strip early Wednesday morning, over two and a half weeks since they were sent in as part of an intense Israeli operation against militants in the salient, a military spokesman in Tel Aviv said.

The spokesman would not give further details about the withdrawal.

Israeli troops began pulling out the Strip on Sunday evening, hours after Israel announced a unilateral ceasefire, ending its three-week-long Operation Cast Lead.

The operation, launched in response to massive rocket salvos from the salient on population centres in southern Israel, began on December 27 with a week of intense airstrikes.

Ground forces crossed into the Strip on the evening of January 3.

Gaza City  - As a tenuous ceasefire takes hold ending three weeks of fighting in the Gaza Strip, and foreign journalists begin trickling into the salient, allegations are emerging indicating that Israeli troops may have committed war crimes.

Many of the 1,415 Palestinian dead in Gaza were civilians, and although their exact numbers are difficult to ascertain, women and minors are reported to make up some 40 per cent of the total toll.

Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to convene a wide-ranging international Middle East peace conference in Paris, the daily Le Figaro reported Tuesday, citing sources close to the president.

Sarkozy introduced the idea of the peace conference at Sunday's summit meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, saying that its aim would be "to finally secure peace this year."

According to Le Figaro, the first step would be a meeting of foreign minister in Egypt, which would probably take place at the beginning of February.

Tel Aviv/Gaza City - A fragile ceasefire in Gaza held for a second night as Israel withdrew more troops and was expected to complete its pullout by Tuesday afternoon.

No rockets landed in Israel during the night and Israel carried out no retaliatory attacks, a military spokesman in Tel Aviv said, saying the last rocket was fired from Gaza at around 5 pm (1500 GMT) Sunday.

"We are continuing with the gradual withdrawal," the spokesman said, noting that some forces still remained in the strip. If the truce holds, Israel may finalize the pullout by the inauguration of US President-elect Barack Obama.

The ceremony was scheduled to start at 5 pm Middle Eastern time. Military officials however would not confirm the deadline.

Cairo - Egypt has invited Israeli government officials and representatives of Palestinian groups from Gaza to Cairo for talks aimed at turning the ceasefire in Gaza into a more lasting truce.

Egypt will hold parallel talks with the Israelis and the Palestinians in Cairo on January 22, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said in a press release Monday.

There was no indication the Israelis and Palestinians would meet face-to-face.

Zaki said Egypt would press both sides to accept the terms of the initiative to end fighting in the Gaza Strip that President Hosny Mubarak presented on January 6.

The Egyptian president arrived in Kuwait on Monday for a long- scheduled Arab economic summit.