Let’s consider in contrast to Hamas’ actions in 2023, how, in comparison, reasonable and honorable were Hezbollah’s that set off the the 2006 war. From Wikipedia:

“Using rockets fired on several Israeli towns as a diversion, Hezbollah militants crossed from Lebanon into Israel[3] and ambushed two Israeli Army vehicles, killing three soldiers and capturing two other soldiers. Another five soldiers were killed inside Lebanese territory in a failed rescue attempt. Hezbollah demanded the release of Lebanese prisoners held by Israel in exchange for the release of the captured soldiers. Israel refused and launched a large-scale ground and air campaign across Lebanon in response to the Hezbollah raid.”

In 2006, Hezbollah crossed the northern border to kill three Israeli soldiers to take two Israeli soldiers hostages. The Israelis then counterattacked into well-fortified Hezbollah territory in rural Lebanon, where Hezbollah held out well enough to frustrate the Israeli attackers. This was basically a test of strength between two professional militaries in lightly populated farm country, kind of like the Battle of Waterloo or Gettsybsurg.

In contrast, Hamas has appeared to kill 1300 Israelis, most of them civilians, to take something like 150 Israelis hostages, most of them civilians. This is basically a two orders of magnitude larger inciting atrocity than in 2006, and the the upcoming fighting is likely to be in Gaza’s highly urban areas with far more civilian casualties.

By comparison to Hamas in 2023, Hezbollah in 2006 looks like “gentle and parfait knights.”