Three Palestinian children were killed by Israeli fire in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. The three were cousins from the al-Ghazale family - Yihiye, 12, Mahmoud, 10, and Sara, 10. The Israeli public reacted to these killings, just like it did to the killing of two other children several days earlier, with near complete apathy. It might as well be an act of god, or an acceptable price that balances out the frustration at the continued Qassam rocket attacks.

This indifference is dangerous because it does not encourage greater care in identifying targets. The automatic expressions of sorrow by government officials, and the argument that "the terrorists organizations send children deliberately to places where they become targets," does not suggest that anyone is attempting to learn the necessary lessons from the mistakes. This is all the more true when the targets are in areas housing civilians, and the risk is known in advance. Israel cannot behave like a terrorist organization that targets civilians, even when the shooting comes in response to an attack. After all, this is the main reason why Israel is encouraging the boycott of Hamas the world over.

There is no dispute over the fact that the children were killed near rocket launchers. However, the people near rocket launchers are usually civilians, and not the operating crews. The crews operating the launchers do so from a distance, and later they send others, including children, to collect the launchers for further use. Even though the Palestinians claim that the children cannot lift such launchers because they are too heavy, the Israel Defense Forces thinks otherwise. It believes the launcher is light and the rocket is heavy, and therefore launchers can be collected by children.