This actually would not be surprising considering IDF's  and just their general disregard for even their own civilians who are hostages.

I know it sounds more like Hamas propaganda and hype, but the IDF really isn't a very comptenent ground fighting force. Even the last time they were in Gaza they took some serious losses despite having an overwhelming advantage.

More importantly, though

If the IDF is not comptenent, then the surrounding middle east nation militaries are braindead.

Obviously they are not to be underestimated, but Israel really does not like having to do on ground troop operations. They much prefer bombardment and artillery because they don't have to worry about urban fighting and don't care about civilian casualties.

It's kind similar to how Obama spammed drone attacks in Afghanistan because it meant no need for dangerous ground combat and because civilian casualties are acceptable collateral because who cares about war crimes amirite.

It would be interesting to be proven wrong, but I do expect the IDF to take some serious losses during this whole thing, especially now that Hamas has more trained militants and modern weapons. They even defeated the merkava trophy system using a regular old straight shot RPG.

If anything, their cautious border approach proves this. They're trying to drag out Hamas and wear them down as much as possible before fully committing.