THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

One child at a time, apparently. The Israeli "Defense" Forces will continue to rubblize Gaza as their best means of discovering and eliminating all the tunnels. The civilian deaths will be noted as necessary collateral damage in their quest.

Israel vowed on Thursday to press ahead with its casualty-heavy offensive in Gaza irrespective of any cease-fire efforts, calling up thousands more reservists and signaling no let-up until all tunnels used by Palestinian fighters are destroyed.

Speaking ahead of a Cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was determined to “complete this important task for the sake of Israel’s security."

His comments come amid a soaring civilian death toll and international condemnation of shelling that on Wednesday hit a U.N. school sheltering Gazan refugees and later a marketplace during a temporary truce.

“We are determined to complete this mission with or without a cease-fire,” Netanyahu said Thursday. His comments followed that of Maj. Gen. Sami Tungeman, chief of Israeli forces in Gaza, who earlier suggested that his troops were “but a few days” from “destroying all tunnels” used by Hamas fighters to infiltrate Israel.

Underscoring the desire to push on with an offensive that has so far killed more than 1,300 people, the majority of them Palestinian civilians and many of them young, Israeli military sources said Thursday that a further 16,000 reservists were being called to relieve a similar number being stood down.

Meanwhile, the military push is being reinforced by a decision by Washington to allow Israel to tap a local U.S. arms stockpile to resupply it with 40 mm grenades and 120 mm mortar rounds. The defense sale is "consistent with" the objective of assisting Israel with developing its "self-defense capability," Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon's press secretary, said Wednesday.

The munitions were located inside Israel as part of a program managed by the U.S. military and called War Reserves Stock Allies-Israel (WRSA-I), which stores munitions locally for U.S. use that Israel can also access in emergency situations to replenish stocks.

Israel, however, did not cite an emergency when it made its latest request about 10 days ago, a defense official said on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Additional requests for U.S.-manufactured ammunition were also being processed in the U.S., the defense official said.

Separately, the U.S. Congress is looking to provide millions of dollars in additional funding for Israel's Iron Dome missile shield. The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee added $225 million for Iron Dome to a spending bill intended mainly to provide money to handle an influx of thousands of Central American children across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Nice to know that the US has provided conveniently located replacement munitions for those time when Israel must attack one or more of its neighbors.