Q+A: Face-to-face in Gaza: tactics of Israel and Hamas

(Reuters) - With Israeli troops and Hamas gunmen battling in the Gaza Strip for a third day, following is an overview of the tactics and weapons deployed by both sides.

Q - What are the strategies?

A - Israel and Hamas want to inflict maximal damage on each other. Israel has pledged to stem rocket fire from Gaza on its southern towns. It also wants to pummel the Islamists to a point where they are either unwilling or unable to seek another confrontation with the Jewish state. It has not, however, made a commitment to breaking Hamas's control of the coastal enclave.

By corollary, Hamas, whose ultimate goal is an Islamic state in all of what was Palestine in 1948, could claim a victory by living to fight another day. Israel's offensive faces pressures from international diplomacy and an Israeli election on February 10 -- heavy losses among troops would not be popular with voters.

Q - What is the balance of arms?

A - Israel has among the world's most technologically advanced militaries. Thousands of well-trained regular troops and reservists are inside Gaza or on standby. They benefit from high-tech surveillance and communications equipment and can call on massive firepower from tanks, aircraft and navy gunboats.

Hamas has an estimated 25,000 fighters with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. Israel says it also has more advanced anti-tank missiles and may have shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles capable of hitting helicopters or low-flying planes. Palestinian gunmen say they have prepared a matrix of deadly ground obstacles, from minefields to trenches and booby traps.

Hamas has carried out dozens of suicide bombings in Israel and says its men -- and women -- could resume the tactic now.

Hamas has a stockpile of rockets. Many are improvised from pipes, but some Russian-made Katyushas are more accurate and have landed up to 40 km (25 miles) inside Israel.