GAZA CITY (AFP) - Hamas on Wednesday called on President Barack Obama to learn lessons from the mistakes of his predecessor George W Bush and said it would judge the new US leader by his acts. Obama promised Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas to work towards a "durable peace" in the Middle East in what Palestinians said was his first call to a foreign leader on Wednesday. "We will judge him by his policies and actions on the ground and how he will learn lessons from the mistakes of the previous administrations, especially that of George Bush and his criminal and unjust policies," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told a Press conference in Gaza City. The Israeli pullout "is not enough and does not resolve the crisis, he said. "We demand the total lifting of the blockade and the reopening of all the crossing points so that our people can live in peace and security," he told AFP. The Islamists asked all its civil servants to return to work although the main ministries' building in Gaza City is rubble. Meanwhile, Obama plunged straight into the Middle East conflict on his first day in office calling the Palestinian President on Wednesday after the last Israeli soldier withdrew from Gaza. Obama assured Mahmud Abbas that he intended "to work with him as partners to establish a durable peace in the region," the Palestinian leader's spokesman told AFP. The new US leader told Abbas that the Palestinian President was the first foreign leader he called since taking office, said spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina. "This is my first phone call to a foreign leader and I'm making it only hours after I took office," he quoted Obama as telling Abbas. Obama and his Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton had vowed to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict immediately after taking office. There was no confirmation if Obama also called Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, while a close Abbas aide admitted surprise at the speed with which Obama moved. "We were not expecting such a quick call from President Obama but we knew how serious he is about the Palestinian problem," said Yasser Abed Rabbo. Israel completed its pull out during the morning, the fourth day of a ceasefire that ended a 22-day blitz on Hamas, leaving 1,300 Palestinians dead and a trail of devastation. "The last soldier left the Gaza Strip this morning," an army spokesman told AFP. "However the army remains deployed all around the Gaza Strip to meet any eventuality." An Israel Defence Forces statement said all troops had returned to Israeli territory ending Operation Cast Lead against the Islamist movement. "The forces are now redeployed outside the Gaza Strip."