> I know this will be unpopular, but I'm just repeating what I've heard from the Israeli side [..]

It's war, this is the unfortunate truth and why we try to avoid war. Nobody really ends up winning in this.

> This doesn't justify killing civilians, but what do you do when civilians kill you?

Then point at which a civilian picks up a weapon to operate alongside Hamas, they have become Hamas and are no longer civilians.

> It's a nasty situation no matter which side you look at it from.

Yes. But a peaceful solution was almost impossible once Hamas performed their October 7 attack. The other day the UN members agreed to recognise Palestine as a state, and now the only thing left on Hamas' manifesto is the complete destruction of Israel [1]. I suspect Israel is not inclined to negotiate on that demand.

[1] https://www.dni.gov/nctc/terrorist_groups/hamas.html