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TheNasty: To be clear, the median rocket causes exactly zero casualties, so the actual number is far lower than what you cite.
Konichiwa: To extend your metaphor of the Palestinians and Israelis each as a single human being, think of it this way: someone shoots a spitball at you, and in return, you bash in his left knee with a sledgehammer. This is more suitable than your original analogy to describe Israel's killing of over 500 palestinians (reportedly 40% women and children, to say nothing of any innocent men) in reaction to rockets that, taken together, have killed and injured handfuls. When speaking of nations, the equivalent of a loaded gun would have to be something on the order of a nuclear weapon - something capable of delivering a death-blow. Hamas rockets are awful, inexcusable, morally reprehensible, and must be stopped - but let's not pretend that they are the equivalent of a loaded gun facing Israel as a society.
And all of this about proportionality is really a side-note, a moral dimension to what is essentially a practical question: what could Israel possibly hope to accomplish here?
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