They went well past “defending itself” months ago… no sane person would say that they’re defending themselves at this point. Whether you are a fan of Palestine, Israel, or Hamas, it’s pretty obvious the continued bombardment and all out slaughter from Israel is a disproportionate amount of response to be called defense.
Either Israel is terrible at this whole war against Hamas, or they just want genocide against Palestine. Neither is acceptable.
Imagine a small kid punching a bully (being the first to resort to physical violence) and the bully starts punching the kid back. Your comment is the equivalent of a nearby adult saying "the bully defending himself is violence? It's pretty clear you just hate <insert bully's trait or race here>."
Side note: if any adults witness this, i sure hope they'd stop the bully from continuing to punch the small kid. Even if the kid started it.