I'm very empathetic to Palestinians and agree with the cause of the Palestinian state. I even understand some of the armed resistance...

I don't think that's a valid interpretation of the question. I'm guessing the people committing the crime consider it justified. But that doesn't make sense and I didn't read that in the question.

The goal of the Hamas terrorists was to start a war and kill as many innocent civilians as possible. The end goal is to destroy the state of Israel. Thinking that something like this could be justified by anyone doesn't make sense to me.