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Add an EventHamas claims Gaza 'victory' as troops pull back
"The invaders fled and the army of Jews was defeated," said a Hamas chant that rang out from loudspeakers in Gaza City, where several thousand supporters of the group took to the streets in celebration and took festive photographs with gunmen.
Israeli Vice Premier Haim Ramon said the five-day-long operation had run its course and the "dozens of deaths among the Hamas terrorists" would serve as a deterrent to further rocket fire.
A senior Israeli government official said there would be a "two-day interval" for a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Rice is to hold talks in Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah tomorrow and Wednesday on moving Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations forward. Washington hopes a Palestinian statehood deal can be reached this year.
Israel's security cabinet plans to meet on Wednesday to consider the government's next move. On Sunday, Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak said his country would press on with the offensive against Hamas in Gaza.
"This very limited (Gaza) operation was intended to show Hamas what could happen, what you may call a 'prequel'," the senior Israeli official said.
"If they decide they've seen enough and stop the rockets, if they get the message, then we may get into a period of quiet. If they continue to fire the rockets, then there will be more operations like this one or worse," the official said.
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Israeli forces pulled out overnight, several days after entering Gaza to try to suppress rocket fire. The operation ended with more than 100 people dead.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas claimed victory over Israeli forces and held a rally in Gaza City.
But Mr Olmert warned: "What happened in recent days was not a one-off event."
The prime minister told the parliamentary foreign affairs and defence committee: "We are in the midst of a combat action.Read More
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"It is impossible to stop rocket fire with this type of action," military analyst Reuven Pedatzur told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Sunday, March 2.
"There are no defensive methods to intercept these projectiles and it does not serve to distance their launchers from the border as some of the rockets have a range of 20 kilometers (12 miles)," he maintained.
Israeli occupation forces killed ten Palestinians on Sunday, after killing 67, including many women and children, a day earlier.
That takes to at least 115 the number of Palestinians, third of them children, killed in five days of Israeli raids and air strikes in the Gaza Strip.
Israel says the operation is aimed at halting near-daily rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza.
But Palestinian resistance fighters launched twenty-four rockets Sunday after firing 40, including eight long-range rockets, Saturday.
Palestinian rockets have killed 14 Israelis since the outbreak of Al-Aqsa Intifadah September 2000.
Talk to Hamas
Experts believe Israel will lose the battle in the Gaza Strip.
"This war, too, will end in bitter disappointment," Yossi Sarid wrote in Haaretz.
"The losses on the Palestinian side, mostly innocent civilians, will only increase solidarity and the willingness to sacrifice. Hamas rule will not be weakened; it certainly will not fall."
He added that the Israeli attacks will also undermine Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his colleagues.
"There is no choice but to talk to Hamas, indirectly or directly, and without preconditions. On the agenda: a cessation of hostilities and a total, long-term halt."
Pedatzur, the military analyst, agrees.
"The government is looking for a compromise between ineffective limited raids and total war that will set off events no-one is certain of," he said.
"It is risking losing on all fronts.
"The only solution is to negotiate a ceasefire with Hamas, which is doing nothing to hide its desire for a truce."
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal insisted on Saturday that rocket attacks are the result not the cause of Israeli aggressions.
He reminded the international community that Hamas committed itself to past truces in 2003, 2005 and 2006, but Israel never stopped killing Palestinians.
"We tell all Arab and European officials that whosoever can secure an Israeli commitment to halt aggressions in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, Hamas stands ready to deal with this seriously and stop (firing rocket)."
"Israel has been dragging its feet for eight and a half months on deciding how to treat the Hamas regime in Gaza," Maariv wrote.
"The time to decide has arrived."
According to a survey published in Haaretz newspaper on Wednesday, February 27,most Israelis think their government should hold direct talks with Hamas to reach a ceasefire.
The mass-selling Yediot Aharonot said Sunday Israel will eventually have to choose between an all-out war in Gaza and all the risks that entails, or talks with Hamas.
"The choice between these two options is a choice between the plague and cholera. Nevertheless, it appears to be unavoidable."
"This very limited operation was intended to show Hamas what could happen, what you may call a 'prequel'," an Israeli official told Haaretz.
"If they decide they've seen enough and stop the rockets, if they get the message, then we may get into a period of quiet. If they continue to fire the rockets, then there will be more operations like this one or worse."
Witnesses said Israeli armored vehicles had started to withdraw from the Jabaliya refugee camp north of Gaza City at dawn.
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