HAMAS LEADER: "Israel did not reach its goals"

Khaled Meshaal, the political leader of Hamas, said that Israel has not succeeded in reaching its objectives, and he thanked Israel and Iran for their support during the recently concluded conflict.

"After eight days, God took their hands off the people in Gaza and they were forced to accept the terms of the resistance movement", he said, in a press conference held in Cairo.

Khaled Meshaal thanked Egypt, led by "brave" president Mohammed Morsi, for the behaving responsibly and understanding the demands of the resistance movement and of the Palestinian movement.

The Hamas leader has also expressed his gratitude for Iran, which he said played an important role in arming the movement, during the conflict. This gratitude comes in spite of the disagreements which the Palestinian faction and the government in Tehran have when it comes to the situation in Syria, he said.

Khaled Meshaal warned Israel not to break the cease-fire agreement. "If you honor the agreement, we will honor it too. If you don't, we have the weapons in our hands", he warned.

On the other hand, the leaders of the Israeli army, said that they are extremely pleased with the successes they obtained during the conflict. The Israeli Defense Forces (FAI) have succeeded in seriously affecting the offensive capabilities of the Hamas, according to its representatives. The objective of the army was to destroy part of the 12,000 rockets which it is estimated Hamas owns, as well as destroy the tunnels which are used for gun trafficking towards the Gaza Strip, officials said.

The military benefits were one of the factors which caused Israel to accept the truce, the officials of the Israeli army said.

Aside from the fact that it allowed the destruction of Hamas missiles, the conflict demonstrated the defense capabilities that Israel has, CNN notes. The Iron Dome system intercepted 84% of the missiles which Hamas launched at civilian targets in Israel, according to the Israeli army.

Israel's Iron Dome shield against Gaza rockets stopped about 500 missiles, at a cost of 62,000 dollars per rocket, which means it has cost more than $30 million.

The officials of the Israeli Armed Forces added that they have succeeded in destroying 140 tunnels used for weapons trafficking and 26 tunnels used for the storage and manufacturing of weapons. The United States have tried to cause Egypt to shut down the tunnels on the border with the Gaza Strip, by which Israel and the USA suspect that Iranian weapons were being transported from the Palestinian territory.

The preparations for a land invasion, which never took place, served as a simulation for the Israeli army, which will prove beneficial if such an operation gets launched in the future, according to the officials of the FAI.

But Khaled Meshaal said that the Israeli bombardments have affected the civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, more than the military capabilities of the Hamas. He said: "They wanted to destroy the Hamas infrastructure and today (ed. note: Wednesday) they are claiming they did that. I do not deny that they did a lot of things. We can count the buildings they destroyed, the press offices they destroyed, the children they killed and how many journalists and photographers they destroyed. This is their achievement. They've got nothing else to show".

In spite of the effectiveness demonstrated by Israel's anti-missile defense system, the conflict showed that it doesn't take many rockets to create chaos, as it only takes one or two missiles striking a populated area to create panic and generate a military response from Israel, CNN states.

• Israel and Hamas, both are winners following the conflict

Both sides which have participated in a conflict can consider themselves victorious, according to analysts. Israel, which has elections scheduled for January 22nd, succeeded in killing the military leader of Hamas, Ahmed al-Jaabari. The number of civilian Israeli victims was low, due to the Iron Dome system, and the avoiding of a terrestrial invasion, which could have lowered the population's support for the government, if it had resulted in losses of military lives, can be considered a success.

In turn, Hamas came out stronger from this conflict, as it succeeded in consolidating its control in the Gaza strip and gaining increased legitimacy. In the Palestinians' eyes, the faction had the firmest position against Egypt in its entire history, launching rockets with the highest range ever. And if a more extended agreement is reached, they will have succeeded in reducing the economic blockade against the Strip.

The gain of Hamas is the loss of Fatah and of the president of the Palestinian authority, Mahmoud Abbas. He was supposed to represent the moderate faction which speaks for Palestinians, but now, it can't claim to be speaking on behalf of the entire population and showed that he doesn't have any influence in the relationship with Hamas.

• Egypt, a decisive role in the ending of the fighting

The conflict between Israel and Hamas, especially towards its end, have shown the importance which Egypt can have in the region. President Mohammed Morsi, whom many considered overwhelmed by the situation, showed that he can handle a flurry of diverging interests, including those of his own country. The head of state showed that he has the ability to bring Hamas to the negotiations table and to convince the leaders of the faction to accept the cease-fire, and the success of the negotiations scored him political points with the Arab world and with the United States alike.

• Iran, more cautious because of Iron Dome

As for Iran, this might cause it to interpret the manner in which Israel defended itself from the missiles launched by Hamas as a sign that it should be cautious, if it intended to rely on Hamas for help, if an Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities caused it to retaliate, one of the analysts contacted by CNN says. "Israel could prove capable of handling attacks by Hamas or Hezbollah, if they were to support Iran in the event of a war, which makes Tehran feel more vulnerable today than one or two weeks ago", he explained.