In addition, the Israeli operation greatly curtailed years of Hamas rocket fire, returning a sense of normalcy to Southern Israel.Bronner, Painful Mideast Truth: Force Trumps Diplomacy 20 October 2009. In the year before the war, Hamas had fired over 3,300 rockets at Israel's Gaza periphery towns. That number dropped to less than 300 in the ten months following the conflict.Isabel Kershner "Along Gaza, a Quiet (But Still Tense) Life" The New York Times 9 October 2009.
