A senior Iranian official considered on Sunday Israel's unilateral truce as its defeat in Gaza, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Ali-Reza Zaker Isfahani, chairman of the strategic studies at the Presidential Office, was quoted as saying that "Israel's unilateral cease-fire in Gaza indicated its absolute defeat" and "the Zionist regime in no longer capable of pursuing its vicious goals in the besieged area."

"Israel would never be proud of its war on Gaza as Palestinian resistance would someday annihilate the Zionist regime's fake glory," Isfahani said, reasoning that since the objective behind Israel's atrocities in Gaza was "to destroy a generation and help another survive."

On Saturday night, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared a unilateral ceasefire in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, which went into effect at 2:00 AM (0000 GMT) on Sunday.

"We have reached all of our objectives in Gaza," Olmert told a press conference in Tel Aviv, adding that Hamas has been dealt a heavy blow and its leaders are now in hiding.

However, hours after the ceasefire, southern Israel was pounded by a number of rockets fired from Gaza on Sunday morning and the Israeli army confirmed that it opened fire after Gazan militants attacked Israeli troops in the Palestinian enclave.

At least one Palestinian was reportedly killed by the exchange of fire on Sunday morning.

(Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2009)