For Gazans that war was a success. You may not want to believe it, but if youi for once look the picture from the Gazans side, there is much to celebrate. 1. They were in prison, now they have opened the crossings and maybe get even port and airport. 2. They had no work or money, but now money will pour into Gaza and they all have work for about 20 years on building new modern infrastructure for Gaza. 3, They had no friends, but now Hamas is a major political player in ME and Palestinians are getting closer to their own state. What did you gained? 1. You killed 2100 Gazans, but over 10000 new Gazans were born while you were fighting. 2. You mistakenly killed 500 children in Gaza, and you have to cut NIS 500 million from your education budget of your own children to finance that war. 3. You got ceasefire that you had already before the war. You started the conflict by arresting hundreds of Hamas supporters in WB and by squeezing every dollar from Gaza by hardened siege. You know that, everyone knows that, so don't make fool of yourself by claiming otherwise. If you don't let Palestinians to live a normal life, you will eventually ruin your own life. Make peace with Abbas, and you destroy Hamas and Jihad. Make fool of Abbas by playing games with empty promises, and you will have ISIS on your borders and Hamas in the negotiating table. You have no military solution for this conflict. You cant win a war against native people who are fighting for their freedom. Show the world that you are smart like you used to be. Negotiate for Israel a long and profitable peace.

Gazan "intelligentsia" suffered by Towers destruction-and that'd cause them not to like Israel. From a journo who run from toilet to shelter,while Gazan "intelligentsia" jubilated. Once more proving Israel'd have been an impediment to winning of the WW2 by its "intelligentsia" wailing at destruction of Nazi Germany and her intelligentsia-if only Israel existed then. Thanks Go d it didn't

Doubters will be forgotten.

Success for Gaza? Hamas was forced to accept a ceasefire that it had rejected at the beginning of the conflict. As for Israel, read what Netanyahu said. Israel did not accept a single Hamas condition. The crossings that were open prior to the conflict under Israeli monitoring were simply reopened as before. You are pretending as if nothing was entering Gaza. And remember, this conflict was started by Hamas. FInally they admitted they were behind the kidnap and murder of the Israeli teens, after their previous denials.

I don't like Hamas, but even you must admit that when they got out of cash, Hamas had only two options: fight or die. Maybe they ordered that kidnapping or maybe not (they never admitted that, only that kidnappers were Hamas members.) That war saved Hamas, and Israel gave Hamas Casus Belli for war by arresting hundreds of Hamas menbers. You always fall into that collective punishment trap that makes you look so evil and gives your enemies upper hand. There has been many killings on both sides before without war, but now there was a political need for war on both sides. Israel had many other options, but Netanyahu chose war amid right wing pressure. That war saved Hamas. You know as well as I (and Netanyahu) that any of the prior ceasefire offers didn't include elimination of the buffer zones, upgrading the fishing zone and discussions of the prisoners, port and airport. But we don't have to argue. It is easy to check up. If Hamas workers will get payed, situation is completely better for Hamas than it was before the war and Hamas is saved. If Hamas workers don't get payed, situation for Hamas is about the same as before the conflict and you and Netanyahu are right.

Hamas never needed a "Cazus Belli" to perpetrate terrorist attacks on Israel (you do agree that Hamas is a terrorist organisation, don't you?). You forgot the biggest loss of Hamas: the loss of the tunnels, through which they planned a major terrorist attack in September. I recall the victory parades in Egypt after the 6-day war, and same after the Yom Kippur war, and the "divine victory" of Hezbollah in 2006 (from which they are still recovering). It does not matter how badly they are defeated, the Arabs will always celebrate victory (initially) and then cry for more sympathy and donations subsequently. In summary, yes, a cost was paid but it seems that some valuable benefits were gained (more benefits could have been achieved in my opinion but sitting in Canada I am reluctant to advise because I am not the one paying the price).

Hamas never needed a "Casus Belli", but Israel gave it to Hamas so that world could see the conflict more balanced? Hamas is a terrorist organisation as long as the US government labels Hamas as a terrorist organisation. In this war Hamas killed mainly soldiers and Israel told US to mind their own business, so US gave Egypt green light to get Hamas to the negotiating table. After that stupid war (and how Israel managed it), Hamas is much less "terrorist" and much more "political" organisation. And what about those tunnels? It took Hamas some years to build those tunnels and will possibly take some years to build some more. And what about Hezbollah? They are a main political party in Lebanon thanks to 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. Another stupid war. War is politics by other means and the gains in war are always measured by politics. Do you honestly think that Israel won the politics of Gaza war?

The highest ranking Hamas official in the West Bank, Saleh al-Aruri, of Izz al-Deen Kassem Brigades (the Hamas 'military' wing) confirmed unequivocally that his organization was behind the kidnap and murder of the three Israeli teens. Khaled Mashaal, head of the Hamas 'political wing' confirmed that the kidnappers were indeed Hamas members, though he claimed the 'political wing' did not have advance knowledge about it. If so, then the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing, and we both know that is as preposterous as it is irrelevant. The Israeli arrests of Hamas members were conducted in the Hebron hills region where the kidnaps took place, not in the Gaza strip where Hamas 'political' officials tend to be based. As for the alleged terms of the ceasefire you mention, Israel has not agreed to any one of them, save for the reopening of the crossings,as they were before the operation began. As Netanyahu confirmed, the ceasefire and its terms were never even placed before the Israeli cabinet for a vote. The only thing Netanyahu agreed to do was cease the firing. The rest is a figment of your rather vivid imagination.