As were the civilians in London, Dresden, and Hiroshima.

And My Lai (Lt Calley just died this week).

Very true. In those days we didn't have smart weapons. "Precision bombing" meant you hit the correct region of the city, not the correct building (like we do today).

And, yes, we would have continued until extermination had they not surrendered. That was total war unlike anything we'd ever seen before (or since). If Israel is committed to total war, just be honest about it. Get it over with. Don't pretend you care about civilians. They didn't care before last October, and they certainly don't care now.

From comments I've seen from Israeli citizens, the majority is OK with this. And I get it. I was in favor of Afghanistan at the time. At some point I had to ask myself "do we kill them all, or do we withdraw". Israel has to make that choice, too. If it's "kill them all", that is horrific. But I do get it. Not saying I approve, but it is a rational choice. What they're doing now is the torture of apartheid.

To take an ad-absurdum example, if Canada was engaging in terrorist activities in the US, at some point I would be thinking "enough" and approve of blasting them into oblivion. It's not my nature, but if it's them or us I would chose us. (I also would have objected to decades of taking Canadian lands for the USofA long before it came to air strikes.)