Let's assume that the Hamas attack was directed, or at least allowed, by the Israeli government, for the purpose of creating atrocity propaganda, in order to give them license to clear out the Gaza strip and crush Hamas and other terror activity there.

Given that, it still makes sense to me that Wictor's points are correct. (Regardless of any bias towards Israel he might have). Wictor is well-respected and does good work.

Consider that even if they are behind all this, Israel still has an incentive to use guided missiles, to target militants, and to minimize civilian casualties, which minimizes global political opposition to their operation. And even if Israel directed (or allowed) the Hamas attack, it doesn't change the facts that Islamists are barbaric, that they inculcate a culture of death from a young age, that they have likely destroyed some of their own buildings and killed a number of their own via mortars that fell short, that Hamas and Islamic Jihad have carried out a number of political murders, and other points that Wictor made.