If there's more to discuss I'm game. My point is, I'm not in any position to justify or condemn these actions, but that if I were someone with skin in the game, my reactions would vary. As far as this particular situation goes, I'm not justifying or condemning anything here but the involvement of civilians (I in general take the stance I mentioned above). I don't know the status on the ground but do believe that there was reason for fighting. If we're still using Hamas death counts (which don't differentiate fighters from civilians outside of broad estimates), we can extend trust to Israeli sources too until proven wrong.

Netanyahu won't agree to a ceasefire that has any possibility of allowing Hamas to rebuild. Especially with the ring of fire increasing it's intensity around Israel, I imagine giving Hamas any breathing room is a non starter for them. Currently Hamas needs to respond to the latest deal, as far as I understand, but maybe things have progressed since I checked. Getting Hamas out of Gaza is beneficial to both Israel and Palestinians.

Of course Palestinians won't see it the same as Israelis, they're in drastically different boats right now. I'm saying that the civilians in this all have valid points that oppose each other, so why pick only one who is right? Why should Israeli civilians sacrifice getting their loved ones back so Palestinians can live? Why should Palestinian civilians die so Israeli hostages can be brought to safety?

My original question at the heart of this is why is Hamas creating the situation where civilians need to be drilled through (something netanyahu is willing to comply with)? I'm sure everyone here figured there were civilian casualties without even investigating, but why does Hamas insist on this? And if Israel should not kill innocent people to get their hostages back, how else do you negotiate with people who are trying to eliminate you besides giving them everything they want? This turns into a playbook for any terrorist organization to mimic, simply put innocents in harm's way and you get what you want.

I don't know any good answer out of this, but I think it's by design. There's no upside for the Palestinians being put in the middle of this when Hamas gets to hide underground knowing netanyahu will go for broke. This just can't involve capitulating to a terrorist organization that didn't give a shit about their people to begin with, and continue to show they haven't changed.

And this is where we diverge, I am not understanding of Hamas' actions. That is reprehensible, they're monsters and it is part of their mission to eliminate Jews (seemingly at the expense of Palestinians). This is not at all understandable, and I reject any sympathy to Hamas. This is absolutely not a both sides issue. Israel is not solely responsible for this, if the people who want to kill them didn't set up shop next to them with the civilians, I would think the climate would be much more tame. I entertain absolutely zero justification for Hamas' actions.

Edit: I'm going to lay in even harder and express complete disgust that there is sympathy for Hamas here.