Israel’s military says its airstrikes killed dozens of senior Hamas operatives and destroyed critical military infrastructure. But victory is hard to measure.
At two of the main command centers of the Israeli military on Thursday night, officers leading the Gaza offensive tallied what they considered the achievements of their latest conflict with Hamas: scores of militants killed, 340 rocket launchers destroyed, 60 miles of underground tunnels collapsed.
But with the declaration of a cease-fire — after more than 10 days of fighting that killed at least 230 Palestinians and 12 Israelis, and that devastated hospitals and other infrastructure in Gaza — the mood at the two bases, one in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, the other in Tel Aviv, was mixed.
In Tel Aviv, the generals at military high command were triumphant. But in Beersheba, where commanders oversaw significant parts of the campaign in Gaza, there was greater caution.
