The last time there was an election in Gaza was 2006. Over half the people living there were not eligible to vote in the last election. And Hamas did not win a majority, they won a plurality against some alternatives who were seen as even worse. Once they got into power they ensured they stayed in power by canceling elections. Much like the Nazis did in Germany in the 1930s.
This quagmire has enough bad guys that anyone can blame any party by cherry picking the data.
As the stronger power with a conventional military and a real state government, Israel is treated by the world as the adults in the room and heaped with more responsibility. As the insurgent army Hamas is sort of infantalized and less is expected of them. This is normally the way with conventional armies vs insurgencies. If the conventional army goes hard after the insurgents, they are seen as bullies by the world. It's why the US has pulled its punches when fighting insurgent armies since Vietnam where it was accused of being a bully on the Vietnamese.
Hamas knows that Israel has a sharper spotlight on it and makes it as difficult as possible for Israel to hit their fighters without causing civilian casualties. It puts Israel in a no win situation when Hamas' HQ is underneath a civilian hospital full of civilians. They also position themselves close to other civilians that look bad on the news when they are hurt.
Hamas also knows that Israel could kill its current crop of fighters, but the civilian casualties will serve to recruit the next generation from the Palestinian population.
Hamas is playing to lose the battle, but win the long war and Israel is playing right into their hands.
In the west there is a generational divide in who supports which side. For Boomers and Gen X, Israel has been in a fight for survival our entire lives. First it was state actors, but it devolved into an insurgency around the 1980s. The state actors have stayed directly out of fights with Israel for 40 years, instead feeding the insurgents.
The PLO got out of the insurgency game and have decided to create an actual state in the West Bank. There are clashes with Israel, but they are minor compared to Hamas who is still in the insurgency game.
For those too young to remember the wars with state actors, all they have memories of is Israel in constant on and off battles with insurgencies. Many people tend to feel sympathy for underdogs and the Palestinians are the underdogs in this battle.
Bad actors have leveraged these sentiments sprinkling in some antisemitism. This also turns the meme that the pro-Israel lobby in the US has used for decades against them. The pro-Israel lobby has leveraged western guilt over the Holocaust to equate any criticism of Israel the state or the government of Israel with antisemitism. The bad actors playing the younger generations have turned that around turning their criticisms of Israel into antisemitism.
A number of governments of Israel, including the current one have not helped their case and fueled the Palestinian cause.
There are facts on both sides of this conflict that paint each side in a bad light. There are bad guys on both sides, a lot of innocents on both sides, and also a bunch of people who think they are doing the right thing, but causing a lot of destruction and misery in the process.
The Ukraine war is a much clearer picture. Ukraine was attacked unprovoked by Russia in a blatant grab for territory. Ukraine is defending its home against an outside aggressor.
