Hamas has been hurt, but it has survived and has earned respect among many Palestinians and other Arabs. That has infuriated some on the Israeli right, who blame Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for lacking gumption. Uzi Landau, for example, the tourism minister from the party Yisrael Beiteinu, told Israel Radio, “The operation ended with no achievement that ensures quiet.”

Yaakov Peri, the minister of science from the centrist Yesh Atid party but also a former head of Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, said the army’s achievements were significant. “But I think we have to measure the current confrontation and the current suffering by the yardstick of the political achievements that Israel has to be very, very determined about,” he said.

Israel has also suffered a significant blow to its international standing, with the United Nations and Western nations, including the United States, Britain, France and Germany, lamenting the human cost of the war and criticizing some of Israel’s attacks on or near United Nations schools that were harboring thousands of displaced civilians.

There will also be new debates in Israel about the preparedness of the army for urban combat and even an investigation into why the extent of the Hamas tunnel system into Israel was either not known or not prepared for better. The Iron Dome air defense system, which destroys or diverts missiles, most likely saved many Israeli lives, but the Hamas tunnel system was a psychological and tactical surprise.

Egypt is also eager to bolster the status of Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, and Fatah, its political wing, which govern the West Bank. Even Mr. Netanyahu and his team, who have often dismissed Mr. Abbas, are now looking to him and Fatah as potential partners.

But Mr. Abbas is 79 and has health problems, raising questions about who will succeed him. One possible candidate, Mohammed Dahlan, 52, who was born in Gaza, is favored by some Egyptian officials. But he is disliked by Mr. Abbas and hated by Hamas, which Mr. Dahlan tried to suppress when he effectively ran Gaza for the Palestinian Authority.

Just before the cease-fire went into effect at 8 a.m., a last salvo of rockets was fired toward Israel from Gaza, causing warning sirens to sound in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, while the Israeli Air Force carried out at least five strikes in Gaza, a customary last word before another in a series of conflicts between Israel and Hamas came to an end.