Edited sentence: Hamas continues to fire mortars at Israeli civilian targets, but with less frequency than before 2009.In response, Israel began a major military operation (Operation Cast Lead) in the Gaza Strip on December 27, 2008.Israel attacked what it considered to be Hamas targets, but roughly half of the Palestinian casualties were civilians due to the Hamas policy of blending with civilians.Operation Cast Lead was completed on January 21, 2009.Since the Gaza disengagement (described above) and Hamas's takeover the Gaza Strip in 2006-2007 (described below), Hamas fired thousands of Qassam rockets into Israeli civilian areas with the intent to kill as many Israeli civilians as possible