Well, Israel could choose to do nothing. sit there and let hamas hit them again and again until the death toll number reaches 12,000. OR , they can attack which is what they are doing.
Hamas did promise to attack again, and as we can see immediately after the OCT 7 attack, this started to mobilize the Islamic world, and they saw this as a great thing. What would happen if Israel sat there and just took it would be this. All the other radical islamists would smell the blood in the water and then join in until Israel was comepletely destroyed.
The real problem is HAMAS who rejects any diplomacy, so therefore cease fires are only strategic interludes for HAMAS to regroup, re arm and attack first again. We have seen this time after time after time.
Little kids getting killed in missile attacks is horrendous, but Hamas is willfully making them martyrs and then crying about it. Put the blame where it belongs