In the past 116 days, Israel has turned Gaza into a land of terrifyingly grim statistics, killing more than 1% of the territory’s population, plunging the rest into an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, and levelling 33% of its buildings. Nonetheless, Israeli officials continue to fan the flames and threaten to carry out more punitive measures against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel’s declared objectives are to destroy Hamas and retrieve the captives. But despite Israel’s massive power advantage, eliminating Hamas is highly unfeasible. Ehud Barak, Israel’s former PM and IDF general, warned of Isr…