You don't win a game of whack-a-mole by refusing to whack the moles just because they keep moving from hole to hole or hiding among the non-moles either. This is the essence of the conundrum for Israel.

As I've said here elsewhere, this conflict only ends when the Palestinian people start killing Hamas instead of licking their boots. If they can insurgency against the better-armed IDF, they can insurgency against Hamas too. In fact, they live in the same neighborhood as Hamas and know where they sleep at night, so it's a lot easier to kill Hamas terrorists than it is to kill IDF soldiers.