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Tue 01 Jan 2009Israel hopes to avoid taking casualties by not being drawn into urban warfare
IN STARK contrast to their attack on Lebanon in 2006, Israeli forces prepared well in advance. And they know Gaza, which they occupied until 2005 and have since observed closely from the air.
The first stage consisted "shock and awe" tactics, bombing targets from the air. Some buildings were bombed more than once. Israeli pilots suggested to Ehud Barak, the defence minister, last week that they had run out of targets. But however sophisticated the weapons systems, air strikes are going to kill civilians, especially in such a densely populated territory as the Gaza Strip, where 1.5 million people live.
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