I'm surprised someone as thoughtful as you would buy those.

First, I don't expect you to take IDF reporting, but surely the Hamas ministry of health and UNWRA reporting is at least as biased.

Second, some 60% of the population of Gaza is under 18. I expect they have many fighters who could be classified as children. Many IDF troops are barely more than children.

But really, there is no other option. The US and western governments get that. Elon Musk, god bless him, said he hoped Israel would turn the other cheek. Impossible. But even if you just do a routine, by the numbers, tit for tat, who would be crazy enough to return to living anywhere near Gaza ?
So that would make the massacre a huge win for Hamas and invite more of the same.

But, at the same time, the 7.10 massacre was in a way a blessing.
Israel got off easy, because it seems the Iranian plan was probably to coordinate the same from the North and Gaza at the same time. Imagine 10000 Syrian-war veteran Hizbullah fighters descending on a thinly manned border while people are protesting a judicial reform. Might have taken 6 months to drive them off if at all. Who knows how many dead.

This thought alone, that the north could be captured while I am at the office, makes the ground shake under our collective feet.

So now there is really nothing to it but to kill as many Hamas and friends as possible. And yeah, the hard part will come after, because I have no idea what to do with that black hole.
Personally, I think the PA should control it with IDF backing, sort of reversing the 2005 withdrawl. But that doesn't have much support, so I don't know.