We can’t do that. It will take way too long. This plan can’t possibly work. These responses to my Gaza Plan are why it will work. Nobody expects it. Military strategists from Sun Tzu to B. H. Liddell Hart warned us to avoid the obvious line of attack and do the unanticipated. The Germans took France in WW II forty days through the “impassable for armor Ardennes.” An imaginative plan right out of Hart’s “Strategy.” 

A bloody, massive attack on Gaza to score a quick knockout of Hamas and retrieve, if possible, the hostages are expected by nearly everyone. The problem is in the face of an enemy well prepared for the strike; it will be anything but quick. What is the incentive for Hamas to release any hostages? Worse, with so much of Israel’s assets tied down in door-to-door fighting, it invites assaults from other directions. This situation may be Iran’s plan.

Instead, Israel only sends a demolition team with air and ground cover to set charges in the easiest-to-reach group of Gaza buildings. After giving the occupants time to leave:

1. Bring down the structures.
2. Move on to the next group of your choosing.
3. Keep contracting the circle around Gaza City Port. 

Hamas can end the destruction anytime by releasing the hostages, stopping all attacks, and the map of all tunnels, allowing the Israelis to destroy them. Any further attacks mean immediate resumption of the destruction—an open-ended solution neutering Hamas.