As New Cease-Fire Holds, Dazed Gazans Get to Work

Jerusalem: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Ismail Haniya, the Gaza-based political leader of Hamas, both declared a decisive victory on Wednesday as residents on both sides of the border grappled with the death and destruction wrought in a 50-day battle that ended in a limited cease-fire agreement the night before.

Netanyahu asserted at a Tel Aviv news conference that "there is a great military accomplishment and a great diplomatic achievement" for Israel while Hamas, the Islamist Palestinian faction that dominates Gaza, had surrendered without winning "even one of the conditions it demanded." Haniya, appearing in public for the first time since the operation began July 8, told a crowd of some 10,000 flag-waving supporters in a Gaza City square that his armed wing's successes this summer were "multiple, multiple" times those of previous violent rounds with Israel in 2012 and 2008-09.

Yet in Israel, politicians and analysts greeted the cease-fire with skepticism and harshly criticized Netanyahu's prosecution of the campaign, while many families who evacuated the communities near Gaza battered by rocket and mortar fire remained wary of returning.

"As far as the rocket threat's concerned, we're still in the same place," Ronit Minaker, spokesman for a larger border region, said on Israel Radio. "Exactly in the same place. The only difference between before the fighting and now is that now residents have a very great feeling of distrust."

In Gaza, banks reopened, markets were crowded, bulldozers began to remove rubble blocking roads and fishermen ventured out to sea, seizing on the cease-fire deal's return of the zone permitted by Israel to six nautical miles, as agreed in 2012, from three nautical miles since June. Brown-uniformed security forces spread out to the border areas to make sure that no rogue rockets would threaten the fragile calm.

Life did not exactly return to normal, but thousands of residents did return to their homes.

Those sheltering in United Nations schools dropped from nearly 300,000 to 54,261 by Wednesday afternoon, though more were expected to spend the night after visiting their homes and finding them uninhabitable.

"We are happy that the cease-fire is on, and killing is over," said Mohammed Abu Ouda, 31, as he surveyed the wreckage in Beit Hanoun, the northern border town largely leveled during Israel's ground invasion. "We don't know what we will do next. We will stay in the school until a solution is brought to us."

What happens next was the crucial question being asked in Gaza, Israel and around the world after the announcement on Tuesday of a limited agreement to halt the hostilities and ease, but not eliminate, Israeli-imposed restrictions on fishing, travel and trade. The agreement, brokered by Egypt, calls for Israel to allow humanitarian aid and building materials through the border crossings it controls into Gaza. But it remained unclear who would oversee the reconstruction effort and monitor imported cement and concrete to allay Israeli concerns that it be used only for civilian purposes.

Discussion of the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict, along with demands by Hamas, the Islamist faction that dominates Gaza, for a seaport and airport in Gaza - and by Israel for the demilitarization of the territory - were put off for up to a month.

"I don't think that any declaration here is important, who won what," Yaakov Amidror, Netanyahu's former national security adviser, told reporters in an afternoon conference call. "What's important is what will happen in the future."

Overall, more than 2,100 Palestinians died in the conflict, most of them civilians, according to human rights groups. On the Israeli side, 64 soldiers and six others died.

The Israeli military said Wednesday it had struck 5,263 targets in Gaza, many with multiple bombs, missiles and shells. Palestinians estimate 10,800 buildings were demolished and more than 50,000 others damaged, including 277 schools, 270 mosques and 10 hospitals.

Hamas and other militant groups fired 4,564 rockets and mortars, the Israeli military said, 3,641 of which exploded in its territory, while 735 were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.

"Hamas was seriously beaten," Netanyahu said alongside his defense minister and military chief at the news conference. "We destroyed the tunnel systems which it built for years," he added. "In addition, Hamas is diplomatically isolated.

"Will we reach our goal of long-term quiet?" he asked rhetorically. "I think that it is still too early to tell, but I can say that the severe damage caused to Hamas and to the terror organizations, and our ability to prevent them from rearming themselves by controlling the borders, those will increase the chances for this goal's implementation."

Noting that the United States had not destroyed al-Qaida, Netanyahu warned that if Hamas resumes its attacks, "we'll hit them seven times harder."

Haniya, whose home in Gaza City's Beach refugee camp was among the thousands hit by Israeli airstrikes - and whose young niece was among nearly 500 Palestinian children killed - did not mention the terms of the Egyptian-brokered cease-fire, or the role that President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority might play in running or rebuilding Gaza. Abbas' Palestine Liberation Organization reconciled with Hamas in April after a seven-year schism, but the unity government they formed in June has yet to take hold.

As Haniya spoke, about two dozen masked militants were on display, standing on several Israeli flags. He likened civilians who were killed in their homes to the fighters who took their campaign to the underground tunnels - all part of the so-called "resistance" to Israel.

"The resistance has developed over the past eight years," said Haniya, who stepped down as Hamas prime minister as the unity government was sworn in. "While we were in the government, we legitimized the weapons of resistance, we supported it logistically, and we cracked down on the collaborators who stabbed the resistance in the back.

"This war was unprecedented. Words can't describe this victory."