Various pundits saying how this is going to be self-defeating, because it will lead to retaliatioin in which more Isaeklis will be killed. That strikes me as very naive, since it is pretty clear that that is what it it intended to achieve, as a way of strengthening Hamas and ensuring that a negotiated settlement can be avoided.

Short-term, it's brutal but makes some kind of sense. Longterm, well that's a bit differemt. There's no longterm future for Israel down this road.