Gaza truce holding but Israel's Netanyahu under fire at home

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"> <br /></h1> <div class="relatedRai" id="relatedInlineVideo"> </div> <div id="slideshowInlineLarge" style="clear: both; margin: 0px 0px 10px; position: relative; width: 580px;"> <div class="photoControls" id="photoControls" style="bottom: 20px; height: 31px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 580px; z-index: 3;"> <div class="photoNav" style="float: right; height: 31px; margin: 0px; position: relative; right: 15px; width: 62px;"> <div class="photoControls_inner" style="height: 31px; margin: 0px 4px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 3px;"> <a href="" id="prevButton" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin-top: 2px; outline: none;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img height="31px" src="http://s4.reutersmedia.net/resources_v2/images/btn_articleslide_previous.png" style="border: none; outline: none;" width="25px" /></span></a><a href="" id="nextButton" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin-top: 2px; outline: none;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img height="31px" src="http://s4.reutersmedia.net/resources_v2/images/btn_articleslide_next.png" style="border: none; outline: none;" width="25px" /></span></a></div> </div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-displayer" id="displayFrame" style="float: none; height: 378px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 580px;"> <div class="yui-sldshw-active yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 1; position: absolute; text-align: left; width: 580px; z-index: 2;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic0" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 580px;"> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/slideshow/idUSKBN0GM11320140827#a=1" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_top"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="Palestinians leave a United Nations-run school sheltering displaced Palestinians, as they make their way home after a ceasefire was declared, in the east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip August 27, 2014. REUTERS-Ibraheem Abu Mustafa" id="image0" src="http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20140827&t=2&i=967759666&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=378&r=LYNXMPEA7Q0H1" style="border: none; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; outline: none; position: relative;" /></span></a></div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-cached yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; text-align: center; visibility: hidden; width: 593px; z-index: 0;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic1" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 593px;"> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/slideshow/idUSKBN0GM11320140827#a=2" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_top"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="Palestinian fishermen pull their net at the beach of Gaza City August 27, 2014. An open-ended ceasefire in the Gaza war between Israel and the Palestinians held on Wednesday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced strong criticism in his country's newspapers over a campaign in which no clear victor emerged. REUTERS-Mohammed Salem" id="image1" src="http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20140827&t=2&i=967759667&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=378&r=LYNXMPEA7Q0H2" style="border: none; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; outline: none; position: relative;" /></span></a></div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-cached yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; text-align: center; visibility: hidden; width: 580px; z-index: 0;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic2" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 580px;"> </div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-cached yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; text-align: center; visibility: hidden; width: 580px; z-index: 0;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic3" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 580px;"> </div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-cached yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; text-align: center; visibility: hidden; width: 580px; z-index: 0;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic4" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 580px;"> </div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-cached yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; text-align: center; visibility: hidden; width: 580px; z-index: 0;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic5" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 580px;"> </div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-cached yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; text-align: center; visibility: hidden; width: 580px; z-index: 0;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic6" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 580px;"> </div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-cached yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; text-align: center; visibility: hidden; width: 580px; z-index: 0;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic7" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 580px;"> </div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-cached yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; text-align: center; visibility: hidden; width: 580px; z-index: 0;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic8" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 580px;"> </div> </div> <div class="yui-sldshw-cached yui-sldshw-frame" id="frame_fd1fade" style="display: table; height: 378px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; text-align: center; visibility: hidden; width: 580px; z-index: 0;"> <div class="image-container" id="ic9" style="display: table-cell; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 580px;"> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/slideshow/idUSKBN0GM11320140827#a=10" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_top"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum (C) is carried by Palestinians as they celebrate what they said was a victory over Israel following a ceasefire in Gaza City August 26, 2014. REUTERS-Mohammed Salem" id="image9" src="http://s2.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20140827&t=2&i=967437735&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=378&r=LYNXMPEA7Q02C" style="border: none; height: 378px; margin: 0px auto; outline: none; position: relative;" /></span></a></div> </div> </div> <div class="rolloverCaption" id="captionContent" style="bottom: -1px; clear: both; float: left; left: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: -10px; padding-right: 20px; position: relative; width: 600px !important; z-index: 2;"> <div class="rolloverBg" style="background-image: none; clear: both; float: left; padding-bottom: 0px; width: 610px !important;"> <div class="captionText" style="height: 60px; margin-right: 10px; padding: 10px; position: relative;"> <div style="padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="label" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px;">1 OF 10. </span>Palestinians leave a United Nations-run school sheltering displaced Palestinians, as they make their way home after a ceasefire was declared, in the east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip August 27, 2014.</span></div> <div class="credit" style="margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">CREDIT: REUTERS/IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA</span></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> <div class="module" id="relatedVideo" style="float: left; margin: 0px 0px 20px; width: 140px;"> <div class="moduleHeader" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border: medium none; float: left; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; width: 140px;"> <h3 style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">RELATED VIDEO</span></span></h3> </div> <div class="moduleBody" style="float: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 140px;"> <div class="feature" style="background-image: none; 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float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">(Reuters) - An open-ended ceasefire in the Gaza war held on Wednesday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced strong criticism in <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/israel?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Israel</a></span> over a costly conflict with Palestinian militants in which no clear victor emerged.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">On the streets of the battered, Hamas-run Palestinian enclave, people headed to shops and banks, trying to resume the normal pace of life after seven weeks of fighting. Thousands of others, who had fled the battles and sheltered with relatives or in schools, returned home, where some found only rubble.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/israel?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Israel</a></span>, sirens warning of incoming rocket fire from the Gaza Strip fell silent. But media commentators, echoing attacks by members of Netanyahu's governing coalition, voiced deep disappointment over his leadership during the most prolonged bout of Israeli-Palestinian violence in a decade.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"After 50 days of warfare in which a terror organization killed dozens of soldiers and civilians, destroyed the daily routine (and) placed the country in a state of economic distress ... we could have expected much more than an announcement of a ceasefire," analyst Shimon Shiffer wrote in Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's biggest-selling newspaper.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"We could have expected the prime minister to go to the president’s residence and inform him of his decision to resign his post."</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Netanyahu, who has faced constant sniping in his cabinet from right-wing ministers demanding military action to topple Hamas, scheduled a news conference for Wednesday evening, expected to be his first public remarks since the Egyptian-mediated truce deal took effect on Tuesday evening.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Palestinian health officials say 2,139 people, most of them civilians, including more than 490 children, have been killed in the enclave since July 8, when Israel launched an offensive with the declared aim of ending rocket salvoes.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Israel's death toll stood at 64 soldiers and six civilians.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The ceasefire agreement called for an indefinite halt to hostilities, the immediate opening of Gaza's blockaded crossings with Israel and <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/egypt?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Egypt</a></span>, and a widening of the territory's fishing zone in the Mediterranean.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A senior Hamas official voiced willingness for the security forces of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the unity government he formed in June to control the passage points.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Both Israel and <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/egypt?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Egypt</a></span> view Hamas as a security threat and are seeking guarantees that weapons will not enter Gaza, a narrow, densely populated territory of 1.8 million people.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Under a second stage of the truce that would begin a month later, Israel and the Palestinians would discuss the <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/sectors/industries/overview?industryCode=46&lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">construction</a></span> of a Gaza sea port and Israel's release of Hamas prisoners in the occupied West Bank, possibly in a trade for the remains of two Israeli soldiers believed held by Hamas, the officials said.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Israel has in recent weeks said it wants the full demilitarization of Gaza. The United States and European Union have supported the goal, but it remains unclear what it would mean in practice and Hamas has rejected it as unfeasible.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">COMPETING VICTORY CLAIMS</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"On the land of proud Gaza, the united people achieved absolute victory against the Zionist enemy," a Hamas statement said.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Israel said it dealt a strong blow to Hamas, killing several of its military leaders and destroying the Islamist group's cross-border infiltration tunnels.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Hamas's military wing was badly hit, we know this clearly through unequivocal intelligence," Yossi Cohen, Netanyahu's national security adviser, said on Army Radio.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But Israel also faced persistent rocket fire for nearly two months that caused an exodus from a number of border communities and disrupted daily life in its commercial heartland.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"They are celebrating in Gaza," cabinet minister Uzi Landau, of the far-right Yisrael Beitenu party in Netanyahu's coalition, told Israel Radio. He said that for Israel, the outcome of the war was "very gloomy" because it had not created sufficient deterrence to dissuade Hamas from attacking in the future.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Nahum Barnea, one of Israel's most popular columnists, expressed concern "that instead of paving the way to removing the threat from Gaza, we are paving the road to the next round, in Lebanon or in Gaza".</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"The Israelis expected a leader, a statesman who knows what he wants to achieve, someone who makes decisions and engages in a sincere and real dialogue with his public," he wrote in Yedioth Ahronoth. "They received a seasoned spokesperson, and very little beyond that."</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ben Caspit, writing in the Maariv daily, said there was no victory for Israel in a conflict that resulted in "a collapsed tourism industry (and) an economy approaching recession".</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Israel's central bank has estimated the conflict will knock half a point off economic growth this year.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But with future diplomatic moves on Gaza's future still pending, there was no immediate talk publicly among Netanyahu's coalition partners of any steps to break up the alliance.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In a further sign of the truce's impact, Egypt eased restrictions at the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, allowing World Food Program supplies containing a shipment of 25,000 food parcels into the coastal territory for the first time since 2007, a statement by the humanitarian group said.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Israel has regularly permitted food and other humanitarian goods to be shipped into Gaza across its border, during the latest fighting as well. A government website says 5,359 truckloads of goods have transited the Kerem Shalom crossing with Gaza since July 8, the day the seven-week conflict erupted.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Israel has said it would facilitate the flow of more civilian goods and humanitarian and reconstruction aid into the impoverished territory if the truce was honored.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But, Cohen said: "(Hamas) will...not get a port unless it declares it will disarm. It will not get even one screw unless we can be sure it is not being used to strengthen Gaza's military might."</span></div> <span id="articleText" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span id="midArticle_start"></span><span id="midArticle_0"></span><span class="focusParagraph"></span><span id="midArticle_1"></span><span id="midArticle_2"></span><span id="midArticle_3"></span><span id="midArticle_4"></span><span id="midArticle_5"></span><span id="midArticle_6"></span><span id="midArticle_7"></span><span id="midArticle_8"></span><span id="midArticle_9"></span><span id="midArticle_10"></span><span id="midArticle_11"></span><span id="midArticle_12"></span><span id="midArticle_13"></span><span id="midArticle_14"></span><span id="midArticle_15"></span><span id="midArticle_0"></span><span id="midArticle_1"></span><span id="midArticle_2"></span><span id="midArticle_3"></span><span id="midArticle_4"></span><span id="midArticle_5"></span><span id="midArticle_6"></span><span id="midArticle_7"></span><span id="midArticle_8"></span><span id="midArticle_9"></span><span id="midArticle_10"></span><span id="midArticle_11"></span><span id="midArticle_12"></span><span id="midArticle_13"></span><span id="midArticle_14"></span></span><br /> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <span id="midArticle_15"></span><div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <span id="midArticle_16"></span><br /> <div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"> The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said 540,000 people had been displaced in the Gaza Strip. Israel has said Hamas bears responsibility for civilian casualties because it operates among non-combatants and uses schools and mosques to store weapons and as launch sites for rockets.</div> </div>

Gaza truce holding but Israel's Netanyahu under fire at home

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