A/HRC/20/32 August was organized by Mr. el-Keisi, and that a new attack of a similar sort was in the planning stages and needed to be avoided by a pre-emptive strike of this nature. Mr. Katz indicated that Israeli authorities anticipated a retaliatory response of 100 rockets per day during the period of the attacks, but concluded that ―this was a price the government felt it was capable of paying‖. The fuller rationale for the sequence was described by Katz in chilling language as being ―maintenance work‖ in Gaza, ―to mow the lawn … with regard to terrorism‖, and thereby boost deterrence and defer another round of violence. 15 21. What seems steadfastly overlooked in Israel and elsewhere has been the resolve of the governing authorities in Gaza to renounce violence (except to prevent retaliation). This is a development criticized by more militant groups in Gaza, including the Islamic Jihad, along with the reality often ignored by the international media that the recent flare-ups of violence have resulted from Israel having initiated violent, lethal and unlawful action, including in this instance the targeted killing of Mr. el-Keisi. Such commentary is not meant to minimize the genuine anxiety about the rocket attacks in southern Israel, but it is to take account of the potential to improve security on both sides of the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip through negotiations rather than reliance on extrajudicial killings and other forms of extreme violence. 22. There are several conclusions to be drawn in relation to this continued troubled relationship between Israel, the occupying power, and the occupied Gaza Strip: (a) targeted killing is both a violation of international law and understood to be a provocation leading to further lethal violence; (b) the de facto authorities in Gaza do not themselves engage in retaliation and they seek to maintain an effective ceasefire, but seemingly permit or are unable to prevent some militant factions in Gaza from firing rockets in response to a prior Israeli attack; (c) Israel continues to rely on excessive or disproportionate use of force in Gaza, thereby continuing what was referred to as the Dahiya doctrine in the report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (A/HRC/12/48), whenever its security interests are engaged—comparative casualty figures bear out this line of reasoning; (d) there are risks of a second massive Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip, likely to be a larger scale Operation Cast Lead, an attack on Gaza from land, sea and air that continued for three weeks, which inflicted heavy civilian casualties and caused extensive damage to civilian properties, especially homes.16 23. The Special Rapporteur believes that there is renewed urgency for the international community to respond to these developments, as well as to the continuing Israeli rejection of negotiated ceasefire in favour of its pattern of reliance on targeted assassination and other extrajudicial killings. The parallel need for ―speaking with one voice‖, so recently heard in the Security Council’s statement of 21 March 2012 regarding the Syrian Arab Republic (S/PRST/2012/6), could be applied to the Gaza crisis as well. Relying on the General Assembly-endorsed principle of the responsibility to protect, the Security Council called on the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic to ―immediately cease troop movements towards, and end the use of heavy weapons in, population centres, and begin pullback of military concentrations in and around population centres … [and] bring about a sustained cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties with an effective United Nations supervision mechanism‖. The statement continued that ―similar commitments would be sought … from the opposition and all relevant elements to stop the fighting … and to bring about a sustained cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all 15 16 Yaakov Katz, ―Analysis: easy to start, hard to end‖, Jerusalem Post, 10 March 2012. Available from www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=261274. For influential public advocacy of such an attack, which is often alluded to by Israeli journalists and officials, see Efraim Inbar and Max Singer, ―The Opportunity in Gaza,‖ BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 167 (Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies), 15 March 2012. 11