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Israel Wages a More Aggressive War Against Hamas
(Wall Street Journal) Dov Lieber - Airstrikes on a densely populated neighborhood in Gaza this week show Israel is waging a broader and more ferocious war to destroy Hamas, an approach that has sparked an international backlash. Israel says the attacks have destroyed crucial military infrastructure and killed key leaders of Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. Israel has shown a willingness to target Hamas leaders with fewer restraints than in the past - in their homes and underground bunkers in populated areas. Israel is trying to strike a delicate balance between destroying Hamas and minimizing civilian deaths in an urban area where Hamas' military capabilities are interwoven within residential neighborhoods and in tunnels beneath them. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday, "We are working very, very hard to continue to make sure that our Israeli friends are prosecuting these operations with as much due care to minimizing civilian casualties as possible, and that work will continue." On Tuesday, Kirby said it was "obvious to us" that Israeli forces were working to minimize casualties. "Sadly, our own experience as a military over the last 20 years has shown us that even with our best intentions and all the efforts that we put into avoiding civilian casualties, we still cause them." Amos Yadlin, a former Israeli Air Force general and head of Israeli military intelligence, said Israel's shifting war tactics are due to its understanding following the Oct. 7 massacres that Hamas can't be deterred from trying to achieve its aim of destroying Israel. "We are not targeting Gaza's civilians on purpose. We have obligations to defend Israeli civilians. We are in a war with the aim that the brutal massacre of Oct. 7 will never happen again."