The short answer...
Can you or someone else please explain to me why the the USA is being included in this battle? WE didn't kidnap anyone, we didn't order any rocket attacks, we didn't order any retaliation by either side.
The short answer...
It's Islam.
Don't waste your time looking for rationality.
Why do you think America was attacked on 9/11 by fascist Islamic fundamentalists? It had nothing to do with Israel or America's support for Israel. The reason Bin Laden attacked the US and killed over 3,000 innocent civilians was because the US had stationed troops in Saudi Arabia during Gulf War I.
America, being a non-Muslim ("infidel") inside of a Muslim country is enough to be marked for extermination. The goal of Islamic fundamentalists is to turn the entire world into a giant caliphate with Islam as the only religion permitted and with Shariah being the only law of the land.
If you like cutting off the hands and feet of thieves and hanging teenagers for the crime of being raped, then you will love Shariah, Iranian-style.
America represents democracy -- the antithesis of Shariah -- and consequently, represents what Islamic fundamentalists wish to destroy. They want to destroy Israel for only two reasons: (1) it is also a democracy among a sea of dictatorships, and (2) it is also a Jewish homeland.
The only illegal occupation of land in Israel is by Arabs (who call themselves "Palestinians" after a nonexistant country) who stole the land away from Jews just as they have stolen millions of acres of land from other non-Arabic people.
PLEASE, do yourself a favor and read the book, "A Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) by Robert Spencer," if you wish to know the true history of Islam and how their current agenda is an extension of their bloody past.
If you wish to know the true history of the present Middle East conflict, then I strongly recommend the book:
"FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL: The origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine."
All of your questions will then be anwered.