Olmert declared victory in Gaza. Can someone explain to me what victory means? Beside the horrific war crimes and the massacre of hundreds of armless civilians, what has Israel achieved?
Stop Hamas rockets? This was the main declared objective of the Israeli attack. Even while Olmert was giving his cease-fire press conference, rockets were still flying into Israel. During the war, Hamas rockets have reached deeper targets inside Israel than ever before. The Israeli "Defense" Forces brag about their success in reducing the number of rockets by more than 50 percent (from about 70 a day to 20-30 now). How impressive! How long will it take before Hamas is able to fire 70 of those homemade rockets again? A week maybe? Do people in south Israel really feel safer today? Haaretz reported today that only 41% of Israelis think the operation in Gaza succeeded; an equal number think it failed.
Kill Hamas men? Two thirds of the people killed in Gaza were unarmed civilians. More than 300 were children. Tens of those counted as non-civilians are actually young officers in Gaza's civilians police force, not militiamen, and were not necessarily affiliated with Hamas. Many were in the police force long before Hamas rose to power in Gaza. The policemen were killed on day one when numerous police stations were hit by the Israelis before they were evacuated.
Take Hamas fighters prisoner? Read this interesting report from Yedioth Ahronot, in which Israeli officials express "disappointment" at the low number of Hamas men who were taken prisoner during the invasion. According those officials, 200 Palestinians were kidnapped by Israel during the first 10 days of the offensive. Only 30 had "connections to Hamas".
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