Few armies in history have had to fight a war in such a concentrated, built-up, and booby-trapped area, in which the other side has deliberately placed its military infrastructure within and amid civilian buildings—including mosques, schools, homes, and hospitals. None has had to fight against an opposition whose leadership (as intercepted messages from the leader of Hamas in Gaza have made clear) sees the loss of their own civilians as desirable because of the advantages it can bring them in the war for international public opinion. Because in this era war is not just waged on the
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