A ferocious bombardment aims to hobble Hamas's capabilities, but civilians are also in harm's way.
As international outrage mounts over the number of civilians being killed in Gaza, Israel is trying to explain its actions.
In a flurry of briefings, senior military officials have been describing the objectives and timeline of an operation one of them said "might stay like this for a while". First, some numbers: Israel says it has hit 820 different targets in the first week of action, some of them repeatedly.In return, Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants have fired more than 3,150 rockets. In 2019, by comparison, a total of 2,045 rocket launches were recorded .
Israel's operation "Guardian of the Walls" began with attacks on Hamas tunnels close to the border fence with Israel. Defence of Israel's nearby communities, some of which are within a few hundred metres of the fence, was a top priority. Next came everything associated with missiles - including launchers, manufacturing centres - closely followed by an all-out assault on Hamas's entire military infrastructure, including hundreds of miles of underground tunnels Israel's military calls "the Metro".