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So who won?

With the fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas holding as of press time, many people are asking that question.

It may not be the right question to ask.

Rather, as supporters of Israel, we would ask whether Israel is better off since launching Operation Cast Lead on Dec. 27. On balance, the evidence suggests the country is indeed better off.

Israel executed its Gaza operation with deadly precision, decimating Hamas’ offensive capability, its arms-smuggling tunnel network and its infrastructure. Going in, Israel wisely lowered post-war expectations by stating its aim was to damage, not destroy, Hamas.

At the same time, Hamas put up a poor fight. Given its capabilities –– its army of willing martyrs, its countless urban booby traps –– Hamas inflicted astonishingly few casualties on its Israeli enemy.

Of course it was preordained that, once the guns fell silent, Hamas would declare victory. But with many of their weapons caches and smuggling tunnels blown to bits, and with no counteroffensive to boast of, Hamas has been revealed as the ragtag thugs they have always been.

The war was devastating, and we, along with all Israelis, deeply regret the loss of innocent human life. Yet as angry as Gaza’s civilians may be at Israel, how can they not also be furious with Hamas, which put them directly in harm’s way at every turn?

True, Israel probably lost the PR war. Media images of wounded children trump pictures of structural damage from a Kassam rocket. For weeks, streets around the world filled with protesters — as usual consumed with perceived Israeli perfidy while ignoring years of intolerable rocket attacks launched on innocent Israelis.

Those protesters have gone home. Meanwhile, Israel has consolidated support from various world governments in Europe and here in America. The clean slate of the Obama administration offers a new start in meaningful peace talks. In fact, on his first full day in office, the new president called all the major players in the Middle East to pledge redoubled U.S. engagement.

Some will complain that Israel went too far in its Gaza campaign, others that it did not go far enough, leaving Hamas intact.

As we see it, either way the game in Gaza has now changed in Israel’s favor. The international community will have to deepen its involvement, which may include real policing of Gaza’s borders and limiting future arms smuggling.

If nothing else, Hamas now knows it can never get away with even a single rocket attack without inviting a crushing Israeli counterblow.

It’s called deterrence, and for once in that benighted region, it just might work.