Day 51 of the Israel-Hamas conflict

PREAMBLE: An open-ended Israel-Hamas truce took effect soon after 7 o’clock on Tuesday night, after a final assault by Hamas on southern Israel saw two Israelis killed by mortar fire.

Hamas hailed victory in the conflict, and Hamas TV showed celebrations in the streets of Gaza. There were few signs of joy in Israel, where security cabinet ministers Avigdor Liberman, Naftali Bennett and Yitzhak Aharonovitch, and possibly Gilad Erdan, might have voted against the deal had they been given the opportunity to do so. They were not; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu merely informed them of the deal. Bennett said later he recognized that there was no legal obligation for a vote.

Now we wait to see whether the truce holds, to have the details of the terms confirmed, and to see if subsequent negotiations ensure the sustained quiet and security that Netanyahu set as the goals for this conflict.