Israel called off an airstrike against the house of a suspected Palestinian militant in Gaza late Saturday, after the inhabitants ignored a telephoned warning and neighbors flocked to the house to prevent the bombing, the military said.

On Sunday, hundreds of Palestinians, including the prime minister from the militant faction Hamas, stayed around the house and on its balconies and roof throughout the day. They declared a victory for “popular resistance,” but Israel, under criticism for killing civilians in such strikes, called it another example of Palestinians using civilians to shield military activity.

“We see it as a cynical exploitation of our attempt to avoid harm to civilians,” said a spokesman for the Israeli military, who, according to usual practice, spoke on condition of anonymity. “They are using them as human shields.”

But Palestinians celebrated it as a possibly potent new defense against air raids that Israel might find difficult to counter.

“We are so proud of this national stand,” Prime Minister Ismail Haniya said Sunday while visiting the house, in the town of Jabalya, in northern Gaza. “It’s the first step toward protecting our homes, the homes of our children.”

Israel said the house had been used by leaders of a militant group, the Popular Resistance Committees, which was active in firing Qassam rockets from Gaza into Israel. Last week, a 57-year-old Israeli woman from the nearby Israeli town of Sderot was killed by one of the rockets, and over the weekend, Israel carried out several small-scale operations against militants suspected of being involved in firing them.

The Israeli military spokesman said the attack on the house had been called off after a routine telephone warning from the military urging inhabitants to evacuate the house was ignored. “We didn’t want to harm civilians,” he said.

Israel has had an increasingly difficult time ending the rocket fire, the most contentious issue between Israel and Palestinian militants. Nearly two weeks ago, Israeli artillery fire killed 19 civilians in Beit Hanun, prompting a United Nations resolution to open a fact-finding mission into the episode.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel, during his weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, attacked the resolution, saying it did not sufficiently condemn the Palestinians’ rocket fire against Israeli civilians. He said Israel would not cooperate with any international inquiry.

On Sunday, reprisals continued. An 80-year-old Palestinian man was killed in Gaza City and a dozen others were wounded by an Israeli strike on a car carrying two Hamas militants. The Israeli spokesman said the militants had been involved in making rockets.

The office of the Israeli defense minister, Amir Peretz, said Sunday that he had called the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to ask him to help end the rocket fire.

Mr. Peretz lives in Sderot, the town hit hardest by the rockets. A member of his security detail was hit and had both legs severed by the same rocket that killed the Israeli woman last week.

Taghreed El-Khodary contributed reporting from Gaza City.

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company