Collateral damage

The Israeli/Hamas war just preys on my mind. I'm on the side of Israel, but it is hard to watch the videos of civilians killed in Gaza. I don't see a solution that allows Israel to wipe out Hamas without causing collateral damage. Does that mean Israel should just stop? That seems to be what some believe, but that doesn't seem right to me either.

I think of the Vietnam war. It was going on when I was in high school and college, and I was against it. Part of why was the civilian death toll. Estimates vary, according to Wikipedia ... Vietnam War casualties ... but depending on who and when you ask, it's somewhere between half a million and over 2 million.

In WWII, how many died in the bombing of Dresden? How many died in the bombing of Tokyo?

There was a time when I would have said that any civilian casualties should be a reason to stop the fighting. It makes my skin crawl to say this, but I guess I don't really believe that anymore. I think what Hamas did in Israel was pure evil, and tthat the organization should be. destroyed. But do the ends justify the means? I think the Israelis really are trying to avoid civilian deaths, but how many are too many?

I just don't know.