A ceasefire between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers took hold on Thursday after eight days of conflict, although deep mistrust on both sides cast doubt on how long the Egyptian-sponsored deal can last.
Quiet reigned on both sides of the frontier overnight and during the morning after a dozen rockets landed in Israel in the initial hours after the truce came into force late on Wednesday. Israeli police said there had been no casualties or damage.
The deal brokered by Egypt's new Islamist government, working with the United States, prevented - at least for the moment - an Israeli invasion of the Palestinian enclave.
Gaza medical officials said 162 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians, including 37 children and 11 women, were killed. Nearly 1,400 rockets were fired into Israel, killing four civilians and a soldier, the Israeli military said.
Israel's defence minister said Israel dropped 1,000 times as much explosive on the Gaza Strip as had landed in Israel.
Municipal workers in Gaza began cleaning streets and removing the rubble of buildings bombed in Israel's air strikes. Stores opened and people flocked to markets to buy food. "Israel learnt a lesson it will never forget," said 51-year-old Khalil al-Rass from Beach refugee camp in the city of Gaza.
In rocket-hit towns in southern Israel, schools remained closed as a precaution. Nerves were jangled when warning sirens sounded, in what the military quickly said was a false alarm.
Trust was in short supply. The exile leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, said his Islamist movement would respect the truce if Israel did, but would respond to any violations. "If Israel complies, we are compliant. If it does not comply, our hands are on the trigger," he told a news conference in Cairo.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces seized 55 suspected Palestinian militants in the West Bank on Thursday, the army said, citing a need to quell the occupied territory.
The detainees were from various armed Palestinian factions and included "senior operatives," the army said in a statement, adding that it would "continue to maintain order ... and prevent the infiltration of terrorists into Israeli communities."
The West Bank is under the sway of U.S.-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, but many of its residents are sympathetic with his Islamist Hamas rivals who govern Gaza and reject any permanent peace with the Jewish state.
If the truce holds, it will give the 1.7 million Gazans respite from
days of air strikes and halt rocket salvoes from militants that have
unnerved a million people in southern Israel and reached Tel Aviv and
Jerusalem for the first time.
Both sides quickly began offering
differing interpretations of the ceasefire, which highlighted the many
actual or potential areas of discord.
According to a text of the
agreement seen by Reuters, both sides should halt all hostilities, with
Israel desisting from incursions and targeting of individuals, while all
Palestinian factions should cease rocket fire and cross-border attacks.
The deal also provides for easing Israeli restrictions on Gaza's
residents, who live in what British Prime Minister David Cameron has
called an "open prison".
Positions:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had agreed to "exhaust this opportunity for an extended truce", but told his people a tougher approach might be required in the future.
Facing a national election in two months, he swiftly came under fire from opposition politicians who rallied to his side during the fighting but now contend he emerged from the conflict with no real gains for Israel.
"You don't settle with terrorism, you defeat it. And unfortunately, a decisive victory has not been achieved and we did not recharge our deterrence," Shaul Mofaz, leader of the main opposition Kadima party, wrote on his Facebook page.
For its part, Iran reacted angrily to assertions by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and accused him of not understanding the realities in the region after the diplomat accused Tehran of being responsible for the Gaza conflict.
On Wednesday, Fabius accused Iran of negative intentions in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Gaza and that it bore a "heavy responsibility" for the fighting for providing long-range weapons.
Iran has denied allegations it has supplied Hamas with Fajr-5 rockets, which the militant group that controls Gaza said it had fired on Tel Aviv, but Iran has made clear it has provided military aid.
Later, Iran's president welcomed the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel but expressed reservations about its effectiveness, a Pakistani television station, which interviewed him on Thursday, reported.
"President (Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad said the cruelty in Gaza should unite Muslims. He said he welcomes the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, but he seems to not be very optimistic about the ceasefire," a TV anchor for the station said.
This as the Swiss public radio announced that Switzerland supports the
request which will be submitted by the Palestinian Command to the U.N. on
November 29. On this date, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas is due to address the United Nations to request
full membership for the "State of Palestine."
For the full LBCI report, watch the video above
REUTERS