The 2014 war -- dubbed "Operation Protective Edge" -- was, however, a wake up call for the over-confident Israeli leaders.
More than 2,300 Palestinians were killed in that war and over 17,000 were wounded, the vast majority of them being civilians.
While that is quite consistent with the Israeli war trajectory, the number of Israeli casualties indicated a changing trend. Sixty-six Israeli soldiers were killed in that war, and only a few civilians, indicating that the Palestinian Resistance has abandoned the randomness of its past tactics and grown bolder and more sophisticated.
Four years since that war, coupled with a particularly harsh stage of the siege -- which has been imposed on Gaza since 2007 -- did not change the equation. In fact, the fighting that was instigated by the latest Israeli attack further accentuated the fact.
As Israel pounded Gaza with a massive bombing campaign, Gaza fighters filmed a rare attack using anti-tank missiles that targeted an Israeli military bus on the Israeli side of the fence.
Hours later, a truce, facilitated by Egypt, was announced, to the relief of Netanyahu and the jubilation of Palestinians, who marched in their thousands celebrating the end of fighting.
Considering the disproportionate military power and desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza, it makes perfect sense why Palestinians perceived the outcome as a "victory."
Israeli leaders, not only on the Right but the Left as well, attacked Netanyahu, who understood that continued fighting would lead to another major war, with most unpredictable outcomes.
Unlike Lieberman, Bennett and others, Netanyahu's political strategy is not only driven by attempting to pacify Israel's angry public -- many of whom protested the Gaza truce in various parts of the country.
The Israeli Prime Minister has a twofold political outlook: laboring to politically divide Gaza from the West Bank, and maintaining a degree of "stability" that would give time and space for American political maneuvering in preparation for Donald Trump's so-called "Deal of the Century."
Moreover, Israel's growing challenge in Syria and Lebanon makes a prolonged military operation in Gaza quite dangerous and unsustainable.
But the pressure on the home-front is relentless.
74 percent of the Israeli public is "dissatisfied" with Netanyahu's performance in the latest round of fighting in Gaza, according to an Israel Television News Company poll released soon after the truce was announced.
Yet Netanyahu has no other option but to commit to the truce in Gaza, which, as per Israeli political logic, means that he must stir trouble elsewhere to send a message of strength and prowess to the disquieted public.
This is precisely why Netanyahu renewed his threats of ethnically cleansing the population of Khan al-Ahmar in the Occupied West Bank.
"It will be demolished very soon," he declared, in an attempt to move the conversation from Gaza to elsewhere, and to regain the confidence of his right-wing constituency.
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