Every target in Gaza struck by Israeli jets has been assessed in advance to minimise civilian deaths, the chief of staff of the air force has said in its highest-level defence of the scale of Palestinian casualties.
Brigadier General Eyal Greenbaum said every strike went through 11 or 12 stages of approval before it was authorised. He insisted that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) were closely following rules of war that demand the rate of civilian deaths be proportional to the importance of the military target being struck.
