Israel started pulling troops out of Gaza on Sunday, more than three weeks after the start of its assault on the Palestinian enclave of 1.5 million. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has promised European leaders that Israel will finish the process "as soon as possible."
"We will make up for what we have lost," a Hamas militant wing, Izuddin al Qassam, said in a statement. "Our rocket capability has been preserved and will continue to grow."
Other paramilitary groups operating in Gaza also disclosed their losses on Monday, including Islamic Jihad, 34; People's Resistance Committees, 15; and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, 13.
Police forces that are controlled by the Islamists' government but are not formally part of Hamas have lost 162. The People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Fatah movement have yet to report their losses.
Israel launched its attack on Gaza on December 27, targeting Hamas infrastructure in a bid to put an end to rocket attacks by Palestinian militants on Israeli border towns. The military operation left over 1,300 Palestinians dead, the majority of them civilians. Thirteen Israelis, 10 of them military personnel, lost their lives in the fighting.
According to Israeli media reports, Israel plans to withdraw all of its troops from the Gaza Strip before U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration on Tuesday.
An unnamed government official was quoted as saying that "Israel did not want to put Obama in a difficult situation once taking office and hopes to continue cooperation with the U.S. in the global fight against Islamic terrorism and weapons smuggling in the Gaza Strip."
Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire at 2:00 a.m. local time (00:00 GMT) on Sunday, saying it had achieved all its objectives. Several hours after Israel's announcement, Hamas, which runs Gaza, also declared an immediate ceasefire, adding that the militants had given Israel a week to withdraw its troops.
Obama caused anger among Palestinians in June of last year when he said in a speech to a major U.S. pro-Israel lobbying group that Jerusalem must remain the "undivided" capital of Israel. The Palestinians want the east of the city as the capital of their future state. Israel annexed East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
However, the then-presidential candidate later detracted the statement, and said the city's future should be resolved through peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. He blamed "poor phrasing" for the comment.
