WORLD> Photo
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WORLD> Photo
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Israel pulling out of Gaza; Hamas ceases fire
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-19 08:09 The world welcomed the apparent end to the latest round of fighting in the Middle East. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged a quick influx of humanitarian aid to the isolated enclave, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice — in the final days of her tenure — said a cease-fire must be durable.
Iran, which has supplied rockets to Hamas, said a key to calm is the opening of border crossings that Israel and Egypt have kept virtually sealed since the militant group staged a violent takeover of Gaza in 2007 from forces of the rival Fatah faction. The comment by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was a reminder that the tiny coastal territory is just one piece of a larger conflict between Israel and regional enemies. In Egypt, European and Arab leaders were seeking a long-term deal to solidify the truce. Delivering humanitarian aid to rebuild Gaza, opening its borders and choking off the flow of weapons into Gaza across Egypt's border and at sea — perhaps with an international naval force — emerged as key goals from their summit at the Sinai desert resort of Sharm el-Sheik. The gathering, however, failed to deliver specifics on international monitors to stop weapons from reaching Gaza's Hamas rulers. Israel wants monitors, but Egypt has refused to have them on its side of the border. The Israeli military warned that the next few days were critical and that any Hamas attacks would be met with harsh retaliation. "Right now the operation hasn't ended," Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel said. "It has just transitioned to a new phase, to hold fire. To give a chance to a cease-fire to take over and end this operation." Israeli soldiers danced on top of a tank and gave "V" for victory signs as they pulled out of Gaza, but the war moved to a close on an ambiguous note. Israel emerged as the winner on the battlefield. But its chief goals — a permanent end to rocket attacks on Israel and weapons smuggling into Gaza — will require hard diplomacy and sustained international cooperation to achieve. Hamas, meanwhile, lost hundreds of fighters and failed to turn Gaza into a graveyard for masses of Israeli troops, as it had promised. It hopes that its survival will boost its standing among Arab supporters as a foe, as well as righteous victim, of the Jewish state. While both sides put their best spin on the conflict's seeming conclusion, noncombatants were the biggest losers. More than half of the 1,259 slain Palestinians were civilians, according to medics, human rights groups and the UN Aid groups sought to funnel more supplies to hospitals and food distribution sites from Egyptian and Israeli border crossings. At least 13 Israelis, 10 of them soldiers, were killed, according to Israel. Hamas fired hundreds of rockets at southern Israel, intensifying the fear of hundreds of thousands of people who had lived under the threat for years. "We did a good job. Now we're going home," an Israeli soldier told Israeli television. His name was not released in line with military restrictions on the release of information. Smiling infantry soldiers walked toward the border in the rain, and a rainbow emerged from the clouds behind them. |
