JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Triumphal Hamas
celebrated a "victory" in their Gaza stronghold on Wednesday after a
truce was declared with Israel, where a sober reckoning of how the next round
may go underscored the total lack of trust between the two foes.
Palestinians
and Israelis alike were relieved that their eight-day conflict had come to an
end without a bloody invasion of the Gaza Strip. But on both sides there was a
foreboding that their ceasefire might not last very long.
"We are sceptical,"
said a senior Israeli government official, who declined to be named. "But
the Egyptians and Americans have backed this deal, so if it falls apart they
know that we would have a legitimate reason to go in hard."
On the face of it, both Israel
and the Islamist group Hamas, which rules Gaza, can draw positive conclusions
at the end of a brutal clash that killed 162 Palestinians, including 37
children, and five Israelis.
Although Hamas lost its top
military commander and suffered serious hits to its infrastructure and weaponry,
it has nonetheless emerged with its reputation in the Arab world significantly
enhanced and its standing at home embellished.
Israel can take comfort from
the fact it dealt painful blows to its enemy, found a way to work with the
Islamist leadership of Egypt, and showed that it can defend itself from a
barrage of incoming missiles with its high-tech Iron Dome interceptor.
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