Not everyone in the Israeli government agrees with the proportionality of the 'response', nor the disregard of the lives of the civilian populace that these attacks represent:
...Israeli commentators also suggested that the army had been "letting off steam" after Palestinians killed three soldiers in the West Bank on Sunday.
However, Israel's response was so disproportionate that it extracted unusually harsh criticism from within the governing coalition.
"We should not carry out mass killings in order to strike two or three terrorists," said Interior Minister Avraham Poraz, of the Shinui Party.
"I would rather [the militants] escape."
Yosef Paritzky, the Minister of Infrastructure who is also from the Shinui Party, urged Israel to apologise to, and compensate, the victims.
"We are not at war with the Palestinian population," he said...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3211618.stm
khazadman,
Qureia's point was that the mass killings are fueling support for Hamas et al:
"Opinion polls suggest that during the course of the three-year Palestinian uprising the popularity of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas has increased by 60%.
According to a recent survey 75% of Palestinians saw the devastating suicide bombing carried out in Haifa several weeks ago as a just response to what Israel was doing to them.
It is likely there would be similar support for any Palestinian retaliation for the Gaza strikes.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3211618.stm
Clearly then, this action is playing directly into the militants hands. They could not have organised a better recruitment and donation drive for themselves if they'd beamed non-stop commericals and handed out flyers for a year in every middle-eastern country.
That is obviously not very helpful to the peace efforts.