Israel, Hamas truce brings calm for at least 72 hours

JERUSALEM -- After nearly a month of round-the-clock carnage and terror, Gaza and southern Israel experienced something new yesterday: calm.

Israel withdrew its remaining ground forces from Gaza just before the 72-hour truce's start time as both sides fired their final barrages.

Once the Egyptian-brokered cease-fire kicked in at 8 a.m., there were no rocket attacks or missile strikes. No tunnel infiltrations or shelled schools.

But there were no celebrations or declarations of victory, either.

Both Israel and Hamas went into the fight seeking to change the underlying dynamics of a situation that has produced three rounds of combat in less than six years while crippling the Gazan economy. But after 29 days of fighting that claimed nearly 2,000 lives, it is far from clear that either side has.

That could mean the next round of battle kicks off in the coming few years, months or even days if both sides do not get enough of what they want during negotiations set to begin in Cairo today.

Hamas leaders have repeatedly said they seek an opening of Gaza's border crossings, the release of Palestinian prisoners and international assistance in rebuilding the territory's shattered economy, among other demands. Israel wants a demilitarization of the strip and an end to the rocket fire.

An Israel Defense Forces spokesman, Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, said Israel "would continue to maintain defensive positions from the air, from the coast and from the ground" just outside Gaza and that all would be prepared to return fire if the rocket strikes resume.

By Israel's own admission, Hamas still has at least several thousand rockets despite firing 3,300 and losing an additional 3,000 to Israeli attacks. Hamas has reserved the right to dip deeper into its arsenal if Israel fails to yield to the group's demands.

"They are still intact," said Mkhaimer Abusaada, a political-science professor at al-Azhar University in Gaza, said of Hamas. "They are not broken. They did not wave a white flag. It's still a very strong resistance organization."

An Israeli military official said that Hamas had been badly depleted by some 4,800 Israeli strikes on Gaza over the past months. The attacks destroyed hundreds of Hamas command centers and weapons facilities and killed some 900 militants, Israel's military says. Troops also dismantled 32 tunnels, 14 of which connected directly to Israel. By contrast, the official said, Hamas failed to land its punches.

"They can tell a narrative that they did damage to Israel, but really the damage is quite limited," said the official, who was not authorized to speak on the record.

Still, there was little sense of triumph in Israel, where many are still mourning for 64 dead Israeli soldiers and three civilians. There also was disagreement on how to create a new order in Gaza that does not involve recurring bouts of war.