Eliminating hundreds of targets in its now five-day running conflict with Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Israel has again proved its exceptional intelligence apparatus.

While the civilian casualties might seem high — at least eight Israelis and 100 Palestinians have died thus far — the nature of this conflict makes civilian casualties exceptionally difficult to avoid. That’s partly because Hamas actively targets Israeli civilians and hides behind Palestinian civilians, and partly because Gaza is a densely populated urban environment. That is to say, a place where military targets are literally woven into the civilian architecture. Some educational facilities in Gaza double as weapons factories and actual colleges, for example.