Just looked at some maps. This war is being fought over an area about the size of the highway route from Kansas City, Kansas to Independence, Missouri. One could almost visualize the destruction such an event would cause here. Everything is so close and crowded.

Urban combat is the worst, so I don't blame the Israelis for the controversial bodycount of Palis. It is obvious that the IDF is using the weapons it has and those are largely for an open battlefield- area denial weapons of heavy artillery, mortars, with hard hitting combat grenade launchers on their Galils and Tavor-21s, and tank fire. Hamas is using UN sites, schools, hospitals, and mosques to store rockets and many of their misfires have caused explosions that they blame on the IDF, highlighted by CNN. I don't understand the world outrage when Hamas also provides video showing the killing of Israeli troops and military use of the tunnels! They also have fired over 2500 rockets into Israel blatantly. No country would accept its citizens coming under fire every single day and thank God that they have the Iron Dome developed jointly with the US. It's a good system but still only 85-90% effective, rockets still getting through or the warheads hitting Israeli soil falling to earth when the Archer missile hits the body of the other missile and fails to detonate the warhead. Hamas is using old Soviet types, Qassams, Iranian and indigenous designs manufactured in underground facilities or cottage industries hidden from IDF UAV view. Yes, Israel is a small nation and cannot afford to be overrun by terrorists that claim they want a lifting of the perceived seige and blockade... but Israel would cut its own throat giving the Palis a state. Every airport, border crossing, and port would be filled with imported terror and weapons from all of Israel's enemies and Israel's historic strategy of taking the fight outside their borders would not work. Israel cannot wage war inside and outside their borders at the same time with armies that now have more advanced weaponry- much of it provided by the US and Europe to the Arabs that surround them...

And let's not forget the most explosive element of all -- Hamas has developed hundreds of miles of tunnels which run underneath the territory of Israel. This would permit terrorists to suddenly pop up in the middle of Israeli civilians going about their business and rake them with AK and grenade and RPG fire. And one tunnel that was discovered opened up into a community center where 800 to 1000 people routinely gathered for events. All you would have to do is dig a small chamber a few feet below the ground and pack it with a few hundred lbs of high explosive and .. BOOM! .. you've just killed 1000 people! No country in the history of the world would have tolerated such a horrendous threat. Indeed, any country in the past, given the overwhelming military superiority Israel has, would already have wiped Gaza off the face of the map

The rocket attacks do much the same thing psychologically. On CNN a person stated that after they hear the sirens that you have 90 seconds to get to a shelter! 90 seconds could mean a matter of life or death. I don't understand why Israel doesn't build above ground shelters like the Nazis did. These hardened massive concrete structures could hold 3000-6000 people and once inside were protected behind heavy steel doors and up to 20+ feet of heavily reinforced concrete. Some were onion shaped so that the bombs could even slide off them into the open ground nearby. Others had flak defenses of heavy 88-dual 128mm guns! Israel could mount missiles on theirs. But as you said CML, no other country esp. the West and US would tolerate this threat. Israel could theoretically drive the Palis into the sea and level Gaza City. Their infrastructure is already smashed so far and Hamas by breaking each cease-fire stops humanitarian aid from coming through corridors. How stupid are the Palis to continue to support Hamas and the Al-Qassam Brigades, among other terrorists? They are being used as human shields for weapons and their lives mean nothing to the terrorists who only seek the annihilation of Israel by ANY means. Thank God that Iran has not developed an A-bomb yet. Can you imagine the volunteers in Gaza that would line up to detonate a backpack nuke in Israel??? Endless...

Do you know what percentage of the tunnels run underneath legal Israeli land and what percentage run underneath the Palis own land that is occupied by the Israelis? I don't know the answer myself but I'm curious to find out.

I'm not sure if I can answer that Q? CML b/c the IDF is hitting both the tunnels that cross into Israel over the borders AND hitting the Pali sites that mask entrances to tunnels used by Hamas that may or may not stretch to Israel directly but connect to a network of tunnels that could go towards Israel or across Gaza, even into Egypt. Israel so far claims knowledge of 31 tunnels but knows there are more undetected yet b/c they started in the north and are shifting south along the border. Israel isn't occupying either- they are in a combat zone and taking fire from houses and other structures that mask underground tunnel access points... so that's why the 155mm guns, Merkava tank rounds, and aerial bombs are called into action to destroy them. Others that are found by IDF ground troops and destroyed by them use explosive charges. The University was hit b/c Hamas uses it to scientifically work on rocket fuels and components. And one big tunnel is directly under the Gaza hospital, so Israel cannot strike that. It is all a game for Hamas. While possible that the initial tunnels were for commerce, the Pali tv stations that show Hamas programming reveal the tunnels to be used for terror campaigns to kill Israeli soldiers and civilians! How dumb are they for broadcasting that damning evidence? And also using helmet cams to show the live killing of Israeli soldiers and yet claim all the aggression is from Israel and the IDF/IAF!!! Please write something about this CML. I have several new parodies about this "Mother of All Wars" Hamas and the Palis are chanting about and Netanyahu's determination to degrade Hamas' offensive capability almost completely, even if they have to reoccupy Gaza. Notice that the rocket barrage still continues everyday despite heavy bombardment. Means they have both cottage industries as well as covert above ground and secret underground assembly areas IMHO.

Another shameless attempt at humor. If there was a possible negative vote, this author would have received as many negative votes as parodies he's created.