If Israel's willingness to spill Palestinian blood were in question, such willingness has been demonstrated over and over again. After all, from the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising in September 2000 until November 2008, Israeli troops killed 2,990 Palestinians in Gaza and another 1,860 in Israel and the West Bank, according to the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem. So very little is proved here of Israel's "might" that was not known before. If enhancing "deterrence" were an Israeli objective, bloodying Gaza seems a macabre way to achieve it.