Even by its own standards. Israel is cutting off its nose to spite its face.

On Sunday, Israel scored an own goal when it targeted the compound of Gaza's powerful Doghmush clan, killing 25 extended family members.

Located in Gaza City's Sabra district adjacent to the city's municipality, the Doghmush have long had a troubled relationship with Hamas.

Without identifying the Doghmush by name, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has long hoped that the family, despite its chequered past, and other clans would serve as a Palestinian fig leaf in a post-war Gaza administration that would exclude Hamas and the West Bank-based, internationally recognised Palestine Authority and would be subservient to the Jewish state.

It was a strategy that was doomed from the outset.