1) When your enemy hides among its population (remember, Hamas was elected by the Palestinians and then turned around and eliminated the other party) and that population does not assist you in rooting them out, they become complicit. Many Palestinians want nothing to do with Hamas, but without their assistance, Israel has few options if it wants to destroy Hamas, then to go building to building to hunt them down and try not to lose soldiers in the process even if that results in collateral damage of innocent people.

2) If the United Nations offered to garrison the Palestinian territories, implement a plan that included managing all aid entering the Palestinian territories, blocking all weapons from entering the country, disarming Hamas, and filling in the tunnels, then I am sure Israel would be happy to step back... but no such offers are forthcoming. Talk is cheap, when it's not your people that are dying.

Moreover, Hamas reports deaths, it does not separate combatants from non-combatants... Analysis has shown they are not grounded in any reality but released to generate public opinion responses. Also, it suggests that Hamas sees all Palestinians as combatants, since it makes no distinction. No doubt some innocent people are dying, but I don't know of a single war, where innocent people don't die. We can weep for them, but I cannot blame Israel for saying enough...

If the UN has a way to stop terrorist attacks, then it's time to speak up... but telling Israel to back-off until another 1000 Israeli women and children die does not sound like a peace proposal, it sounds like a stupid idea.