That is a positive step, but it is outweighed by repeated instances of Israeli airstrikes and shelling that appear to have needlessly killed civilians, from the four boys killed on a beach on July 16 to the 20 Palestinian civilians killed while taking refuge in a United Nations school on July 30. These incidents are reminiscent of past NATO operations in Afghanistan, in which there was manifestly less care taken to safeguard the lives of local civilians than there would have been if the lives of NATO troops, or their civilian compatriots, had been at risk.