Subject: Re: Interesting take on the Israel - Palestine conflic
I was hoping Israel would be more surgical in their approach, rather than inflicting significant harm on a very large population.

I suspect that a surgical response is infeasible. Hamas has shown itself to be both willing and extremely adept at interweaving its operations and resources into the civilian population. There is no real downside to them doing so, because on the whole it is Israel - and not Hamas - that is blamed for the civilian casualties that result. Their leadership and a lot of their infrastructure (especially underground facilities and materiel) is thus mostly insulated from remote or tactical attacks, like aerial assaults or drone strikes.

So the only response that is capable of achieving any of Israel's military objectives is a ground invasion, so that troops can take direct control over the area and destroy the tunnels, underground resources, and (hopefully for Israel) Hamas leadership.

There is almost certainly no response that can both: i) seriously damage Hamas; and ii) avoid significant harm on a very large population.