I think you are overestimating the value of special forces. We kind of mythologize them with our media, but they are not action heroes. You arnt going to send them into a hostile city where Hamas is not in uniform, planned for the retaliation, had time to prepare, and expect them to come out with low casualties.

For example of what this looks like with the US, refer to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mogadishu_(1993)

Even the US after 9-11 didn't just send in spec ops after Osama, they went in whole hog. And that was estimated at about 4.5 million casualties all around.

It sucks, but Hamas isn't going to start wearing uniforms and abiding by the Geneva convention any time soon.