GAZA: Israel withdrew ground forces from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday and started a 72-hour cease-fire with Hamas mediated by Egypt as a first step toward negotiations on a more enduring end to the month-old war.

Israeli armor and infantry left Gaza ahead of the truce, with a military spokesman saying their main goal of destroying cross-border infiltration tunnels had been completed.

Troops and tanks will be “redeployed in defensive positions outside the Gaza Strip and we will maintain those defensive positions,” spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said, reflecting Israeli readiness to resume fighting.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Hamas, said Israel’s offensive in the densely populated, coastal enclave was a “100 percent failure.”

In Gaza, where some half-million people have been displaced by a month of bloodshed, some residents, carrying mattresses and with children in tow, left UN shelters to trek back to neighborhoods where whole blocks have been destroyed by Israeli shelling and the smell of decomposing bodies fills the air.

Sitting on a pile of debris on the edge of the northern town of Beit Lahiya, Zuhair Hjaila, a 33-year-old father of four, said he had lost his house and his supermarket. “This is complete destruction,” he said. “I never thought I would come back to find an earthquake zone.”

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Malki said there was “clear evidence” of war crimes by Israel in Gaza as he met International Criminal Court prosecutors on Tuesday to push for an investigation.

“Everything that has happened in the last 28 days is clear evidence of war crimes committed by Israel, amounting to crimes against humanity,” Malki said. “There is no difficulty for us to show or build the case. Evidence is there for people to see and collect. Israel is in clear violation of international law.”

Jordan has presented a new resolution on the Gaza crisis to the UN Security Council and hopes for action on the measure in the coming days, its ambassador said.

The draft resolution backed by Arab countries calls for a lasting cease-fire as well as an international effort to rebuild Gaza.