On the battlefield, Hamas has adopted a strategy of staging hit-and-run attacks, rather than engaging in direct combat with Israeli forces, which have a vast military advantage. The group has been planting explosives under roads, in residential buildings and on top of Israeli military vehicles, according to Israeli security officials. Since January, about 70 Israeli soldiers have died in combat in Gaza, according to the military. That attack ignited the war in Gaza, and Israel's military response has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. Hamas also does not have the capability to launch large-scale rocket barrages on Israel, as it routinely did in the early days of the war, or repel the advance of Israeli soldiers, according to current and former Israeli security officials.