An Israeli patrol of two showed up, not wearing their helmets, flak vests open, and just sauntering down the middle of the street. The first barrage of rocks hit one of them in the head, and he went down bleeding profusely. The second soldier opened fire with a rubber bullet and hit the eye of the 6 year old girl, blinding that eye.
A reaction platoon arrived quickly and fired energetically at the kids (including ball ammo), but they didn't appear to hit anybody and the kids ran off.
I met with that platoon's commander, an American-born lieutenant and criticized the tactics used. He was furious that I condemned them for the laxity of the patrol and the heavy-handed response and asked me what he should have done (I was a Marine Major at the time, so he couldn't allow himself to be too furious). I told him that the patrol should have been bigger - 3-4 soldiers, minimum - and they need to always wear all of their protective gear. They need to stay out of the center of the streets and they need to be given better less lethal alternatives than rubber bullets from a high velocity rifle. More importantly, his troops need to be better trained in responding to these obviously carefully orchestrated provocations designed to give their country a black eye: the hamhanded responses give the rest of the world the tools needed to damage them.
He still sullenly listened, so I said, what Israel needs to understand is that while the Gazans are under Israeli control, they belong to you and their protection, feeding, supply and medical support are Israeli responsibility. If you don't understand that, Israel might be beaten in the world opinion and eventually destroyed.
What President Trump is trying to tell them is that image is important and the sight of 1,000 pound bombs hitting among civilians (like the White Phosphorus artillery rounds a few years ago) does not convey of an Israel trying to protect them while destroying Hamas. It projects the image of omnidirectional revenge without regard to bystanders.
It's too late to "manage" Gaza. So what needs to be done is to destroy Gaza.
Israel is already going to suffer the consequences. They'll have to be prepared for the Americans cutting them off eventually.
Ah yes, moral high ground warfare for the benefit of teevee where we don’t fight to win, we just fight not to lose…..worked well for us in Vietnam, Libya, Lebanon, Somalia, Yemen, and led to burying my friends from our exploits in Iraq and Afghanistan. Perhaps we should let others do what they think should be done in their country and given our track record, we can stay the hell out of it.