"the complication being that there were also civillians in the combat zone"??

Gaza city is 45 km2 and home to about 400,000 people.
At the start of the Israeli ground invasion, operation Cast lead,even more Palestinians flooded in to the heart of Gaza City in the hope of finding shelter

As all borders were sealed Palestinian civilians were unable to escape from the 'orbit of harm'

There is no doubt that the Israeli forces had far superior fire power

Using modern weaponry on a large scale against an already weakened occupied people living under the very confined conditions that existed in Gaza City has to pose the question - is it possible to distinguish between legitimate military targets and the civilian population?

If this is not possible then such actions are not lawful.

I suppose if you re-define the city as a 'combat zone' then anything is permissible   - even the use of phosphorus in densely built up residential areas or 'enclosed spaces' if you prefer; certainly the wanton destruction of the civilian infrastructure in an attempt to bring down the government

(One of the most important questions raised by the Goldstone Report is whether there was an intentional Israeli objective to destroy Gaza's civilian infrastructure)

"The Dahiya doctrine is a concept said to be used in the Israel Defense Forces regarding asymmetric warfare in an urban setting, according to which a conventional army targets civilian infrastructure that is used by terrorists" - wiki

Gadi Eizenkot, a general in the IDF is credited with being the most prominent exponent of the Dahiya doctrine, a proposed and approved defence strategy of Israel under which "Israel finally realizes that Arabs should be accountable for their leaders' acts"
He stated -

"What happened in the Dahiya quarter of Beirut in 2006 will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on. We will apply disproportionate force on it and cause great damage and destruction there. From our standpoint, these are not civilian villages, they are military bases. [...] This is not a recommendation. This is a plan. And it has been approved."


"In several areas of Gaza, the IDF destroyed or damaged civilian structures-including a flour mill, food factories, cement factories, and greenhouses-without military necessity as required by international law.
In total, Israeli forces damaged or destroyed 14,000 homes, around 60 health facilities, 68 government buildings, and 31 offices of nongovernmental organizations, according to the UN.

Throughout the war Israeli authorities banned journalists and human rights monitors from entering Gaza, and placed restrictions on peaceful protests against the war.

Israeli government authorities sought to cut off funding to Breaking the Silence, a group of IDF veterans that published the testimonies of 26 Israeli soldiers who participated in and were critical of abuses committed during Operation Cast Lead"

Human Rights Watch