Maybe I did not get my point across, I mentioned a game I used to play, Nuclear War, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_War_(card_game), still got a copy somewhere. But I have also played many games where the victory conditions are different for each side, and this situation is a classic example of that.
For Hamas they are not looking to win militarily, they are not trying to conquer territory or even hold their own. Think of it is a campaign, this is just a small part.
Their Victory Points include how many civilians they can kill and capture, bonus for brutality, how many of their own civilian population are killed and injured, bonus points for every mosque and hospital destroyed. Might give some minor points for the number displaced.
How many Hamas terrorists they lose is irrelevant, not as if there is a shortage of replacements, as is repeatedly mentioned half the population is under 18.
One of the things that amused me is running out of fuel after 3 days allegedly for electricity, Israel cutting off water?, the majority of the water in the area is pumped from aquifers. Food crisis after a few days etc etc. If you are going to start a war normally you would be looking to make sure you had plenty of supplies but that would be contrary to their war aims.
Fighting through Built Up Areas is hard going, ask the Russians, but plenty of other examples, Stalingrad is probably the most generally known example, even the last few days of the Reich in Berlin were extremely costly. I could go on listing examples and the IDF is not really designed to do that.
Hamas have had years to fortify Gaza, how do you possibly take out Hamas?, the leadership is not there, you might get some of their lower levels but then again there is no shortage of replacements.
Quite easy for me to come up with Hamas Victory Points, I am struggling with Israel.
None of this is not very obvious and I would expect widely understood by those involved.
For some countries ike say Egypt this is a win win, Israel gets embarrassed, they can keep out of it, it is complicated but Hamas are inked to terrorist organisations they have to deal with so any losses they suffer is good and for weird political reasons there is very little pressure on them to intervene, provide supplies, open their Border etc.
At some point this will end and the EU, US Gulf states will send Gaza (Hamas) lots of money to 'rebuild' so what is not to like?