Benjamin Netanyahu forced to defend Gaza ceasefire "There was no decisive victory here," said Giora Eiland, a former National Security Adviser. But the situation was managed in the right way and it was clear that Israel enjoyed certain international support. But there were protests in the southern towns that bore the brunt of the almost 1,500 rockets fired by Hamas and other militant groups - almost exactly the same number as Israel fired. "We've suffered for eight days and we can suffer for two weeks if they can put an end to it once and for all," said Ziva Shmuelov, a resident of the desert town of Beersheva, which was pelted with hundreds of rockets during the conflict, told Ynet News. Members of an infantry unit claimed they were twice given orders to advance into Gaza - once actually opening the border gates - before being told to stand down. "It's like crying wolf," said one soldier. After a few of those you no longer believe it. In one photograph much circulated on the internet, reservists on the Gaza frontline spelled out the words "Bibi Loser" with their own bodies and posted the picture on Facebook. Mr Netanyahu's own Facebook page was inundated by thousands of comments denouncing his leadership and promises to vote against his Likud party in elections due on January 22. "Shame on you, you embarrassingly capitulated to terror," said one post. Mr Netanyahu was stung into his own response, promising to hit back hard if rocket fire from Gaza resumes in the days or weeks ahead. "The operation's goals were met," he said. I know there are citizens that expect a harsher stand in Gaza - and we are prepared to make one. We choose when to act, against who to act and how to act. Dan Meridor, the minister for intelligence, also acknowledged the government was facing an uphill battle to convince a public that had wanted "to go all the way" with a ground invasion of Gaza that its calculations were right. "I think we did well," he said. We did not set out to ruin Hamas. In the end we want them to be able to control Gaza without attacks on us. Mr Netanyahu was backed by President Barack Obama, who rang to congratulate him. "The president commended the prime minister for agreeing to the Egyptian ceasefire proposal, which the president recommended," a White House statement said. Mr Obama also rang President Mohammed Morsi of Egypt to thank him "for his efforts to achieve a sustainable ceasefire and for his personal leadership." Under the truce terms, negotiations will now begin to meet Hamas's demands for an easing of Israel's blockade of the Gaza strip. In return Israel is asking Egypt to guarantee an end to the rearming of Hamas and other militant groups, particularly via smuggling through the Sinai. Mr Morsi represents a major change from his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, who played the same role as intermediary between Israel and Hamas but from a position of ideological hostility to the Islamist group. Mr Netanyahu and Mr Obama are now relying on their assumption that he and his Muslim Brotherhood, despite their fierce hostility to Israel, can be drawn into a broader "soft Islamist" alliance of countries like Turkey and Qatar which remain important western allies. In the meantime, they believe it is now a matter for Mr Morsi's own credibility that he meet Israel's security concerns. Ehud Yaari, an Israel-based fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said that while Mr Netanyahu had a hawkish reputation, his record was one of military restraint and aversion to risky gambits. "He is very cautious and very restrained," he said. He set very well-defined boundaries and was very careful not to go wild. This was deliberate. Netanyahu knew this would not end in the crushing defeat of Hamas because that wasn't ever the goal. He wanted to pose as the responsible adult at the top of the pyramid. On Thursday, Israel arrested an Arab Israeli man accused of planting a bomb on a bus in Tel Aviv on Wednesday in an attack that wounded 27 people and threatened to sabotage ceasefire efforts.A police spokesman said the man, from the village of Taybeh in Israel, was connected to the Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups.