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all it the war of the dates and the abaya.

Both are traditional gifts for Ramadan, and while one is eaten and one is worn, and one is relatively cheap and one expensive, they both require money for purchase.

When Israel froze $30 million in Qatari funds for Gaza last week, its Hamas leaders launched a war to keep the funds flowing. Ramadan started on Sunday, and the many people the terror group employs in Gaza were in need of funds.

The master extortionists of Hamas could not have picked a better time to press Israel. This week, Israel will commemorate its Memorial Day and Independence Day. Next week, it will host the international Eurovision contest, a mark of prestige for the secular government.

In other words, both Israel and Hamas were under pressure, and after 650 rockets and four deaths on the Israel side and 29 deaths and substantial infrastructure damage on the Palestinian side, Hamas and Israel came to terms on an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire early Monday morning.

Now the question is: What has been accomplished? Many in the political establishment think not much. Even Gideon Saar, number three on the Likud list, took Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to task on Monday. “The cease-fire with Hamas includes no achievements for Israel,” he said. “The time period between the violent attacks on Israel and its citizens is growing shorter and the terror groups in Gaza are growing stronger. The campaign in Gaza has not been prevented, it has been postponed.”

Many in the Israeli public agree.

The rocket fire that started Shabbos morning took the defense establishment by surprise. On the eve of Operation Protective Edge in July 2014, Israeli army officials estimated that Hamas possessed 11,000 rockets. But since the conclusion of that seven-week war, the terror group has been rebuilding. This week it emerged that Israeli intelligence did not realize the extent of Hamas’s power.

In order to understand what happened on Shabbos morning, it’s necessary to turn back the clock several months. Since the beginning of the year, Egyptian intelligence services have been mediating between Israel and Hamas in an effort to reach a long-term agreement. The terms of the deal are: The Palestinians will completely desist from violence and demonstrations along the border fence, and from sending incendiary balloons and firing rockets at Israel; Israel will ease traffic at the checkpoints and allow large sums of money from Qatar into the Strip; Israel will also move forward on an internationally funded project to improve the collapsing Gaza infrastructure. At a later point, the two sides will renew a discussion on exchanging prisoners and MIAs.

Ahead of the elections, and despite promises that Hamas would hold its fire, the terror organization attempted to carry out an attack. That’s when Israel stopped the flow of Qatari money and the missiles started flying.

In addition to no clear political victory in this most recent flareup, there were no great military accomplishments either. True, the Iron Dome anti-missile system did intercept 240 Gaza missiles, or 86 percent of the projectiles fired at civilian areas. On the other hand, thousands of Israelis sought shelter under a barrage of Hamas missiles and four people lost their lives.

In Ashkelon, resident Moshe Aggadi Hy”d, 58, a father of four and avreich Reb Pinchas Menachem Pzevozman Hy”d (see sidebar), 21, of Ashdod, were killed. In Ashkelon, Zaid Alhamada, a Bedouin Israeli and a father of seven, was killed when he was hit by shrapnel from a rocket that landed on a nearby cement factory. Moshe Feder, 68, was killed by an anti-tank missile fired at his car near Kibbutz Erez, just north of the Gaza border.

Israel targeted hundreds of targets throughout the Strip, including underground infrastructure and weapons stockpiles concealed in terrorists’ homes. The IDF managed to flatten critical Hamas infrastructure, including the “Palestine Tower,” a tall building in the Gaza Strip, and the Abu Aktifayan Tower, the seat of Hamas’s military intelligence. It moved there a month ago after its previous offices were destroyed by the Israeli Air Force. Likewise, the Hamas internal security department building was flattened.

Israel also assassinated Hamad Hudri, a Hamas official responsible for bringing Iranian money into the Strip.

None of this will bring long-term quiet to the south, where residents have complained for years that the government is not doing enough to protect them. The Israeli public is also becoming increasingly agitated with the prospect of becoming missile target practice for Hamas whenever it deems fit.

A new right-wing government is close to being formed and the Trump peace plan is on the horizon. After the fighting ended, Binyamin Netanyahu once again promised that “the goal was and remains to ensure quiet and security to the residents of the south.”

Israel is waiting for the prime minister to fulfill his promises.

(Excerpted from Mishpacha, Issue 759)