Hamas prepared the border breach between the Gaza Strip and Egypt for many long months. It also prepared public opinion by manufacturing a "night of darkness" a few days before the breach, thereby sharpening in the world's consciousness the Gazans' sense of siege and desperation. Yet the objective of the breach operation was political, not humanitarian: to force Egypt to break the siege of the Strip and demonstrate to the Gazan public that only Hamas, by force of arms, could alleviate its suffering.
Still, there is no certainty that Hamas will in the long term be seen as the winner of the breach. That depends to a great extent on whether the other actors in this drama, each in its own way, draw the requisite lessons from their experience.