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Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/06/us-israel-usa-gaza-idUSKBN0IQ2LH20141106
U.S. Military Chief: Israel Went to "Extraordinary Lengths" to Limit Civilian Casualties in Gaza
(Reuters) David Alexander - U.S. Army General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday that "Israel went to extraordinary lengths to limit collateral damage and civilian casualties" in the recent war in Gaza. "In this kind of conflict, where you are held to a standard that your enemy is not held to, you're going to be criticized for civilian casualties." "They did some extraordinary things to try and limit civilian casualties, to include...making it known that they were going to destroy a particular structure." He said the IDF, in addition to dropping warning leaflets, developed a technique called "roof-knocking," dropping a low-yield explosive or non-explosive device on a rooftop, to advise residents to leave sites they planned to strike. Dempsey said civilian casualties during the conflict were "tragic, but I think the IDF did what they could" to avoid them. "The IDF is not interested in creating civilian casualties. They're interested in stopping the shooting of rockets and missiles out of the Gaza Strip and into Israel."