Whose trusting Hamas numbers?
Pretty plain as day that I mentioned Israeli quotes of 5k and double that, for militants and civilians respectively, and the first comment was that the independent quotes (you so crave so much) are not far removed from what (as you would say) is peddled from Hamas sources.
Hamas may well hide behind the populace, but Israel has (well had cos it's too late now) the means to approach this totally different and undertaken a ground incursion - they have a far superior equipped and trained army. Yes, you may have lost a few more soldiers in the process but that's part and parcel of conflict.
What's happening now is far far removed from ""security"" or self-defence.
(Or is it the mandate that you can kill anyone who might become a militant? Sure I've seen something like a word or rule for that - not sure.)
However you want to try and spin it, the casualty toll of the innocents is appalling. And yes, I've said before, the precursor to all this was horrific too for the loss of life and brutality.