What is going on in Gaza?

What, exactly, is Israel’s military objective in its current assault on Gaza, now entering its third week? What do they have to achieve before they conclude they have met the aim they set out to meet and can stop?

When criticising the actions of Israel, I have always tried to avoid making it about their Jewishness.  But I’ve read my Bible.  Judaism traces its ancestry to an Iraqi paranoid schizophrenic who was prepared to murder his son because the voices in his head told him to, and is said to have been founded as a nation by a campaign of genocide a generation after being liberated from oppression in a foreign land.

After two weeks of slaughter, the Israelis are dropping leaflets warning the Gazans they’re going to escalate the violence.  To what end?

Edited to add: if you’re a UK citizen, sign the petition demanding sanctions against Israel.