How to safely destroy silverfish blocks?

Question

So, silverfishes are really hard to hit and they tend to mob and overwhelm the player. The sword approach is very ineffective. On top of that, sometimes we need to dig through mountain biomes, which do spawn silverfish ores. How to safely destroy the silverfish blocks instead of avoiding them?

Answer 1

The Easy Way

Use a Silk Touch tool. They will drop the normal, non-silverfish block.

Kill it With Fire

Fire and drowning damage will not anger other silverfishes out of their block. This means you can lure them into a trap. This is the simplest I could make.

Note that:

1. The safety platform should not be made of silverfish-friendly blocks. That means no cobblestone, no smooth stone, no stone bricks (normal, cracked, mossy or chiseled).
2. Trapdoors make mobs walk onto them thinking they can pass through.
3. The jump ceiling is 3-tall.