The Israeli Army’s chief of staff apparently noted this morning that Israel was at war with Hamas, not the people of Gaza. He is exactly right; Hamas didn’t mobilize the people of Gaza for war, it hid underneath them. That’s the reason, as I have noted previously, that the World War II analogy used by some Israelis doesn’t apply here.
But the war Israel is actually fighting doesn’t match the guy’s words. The Israelis are making little effort to separate the fighters from the civilian population. Instead of enthusiastically protecting civilians in an effort to isolate the militants, they do as little as possible to meet the needs of non-combatants and complain bitterly when the rest of the world prods them to do so.
Will this latest mistake cause the government to change course? Don’t hold your breath, because there are several members of the Israeli cabinet who view the enemy as the entire Palestinian population, not just Hamas, and Bibi needs their votes to stay in power.