TEL AVIV, October 14. /TASS/. The Israeli army’ strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip are "just the beginning," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

"We are responding to our enemies with great force, with unprecedented force. I would like to point out that it’s just the beginning. Our enemies have just begun to pay. I will not go into detail of what will come next, but I will say that it is just the beginning," Netanyahu said in a televised address to the nation.

The Israeli prime minister stressed that in conversations with US President Joe Biden and other world leaders, he was trying to ensure "significant international support" for Tel Aviv.

Netanyahu reiterated his confidence that Israel would have total victory over Hamas.

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again after Hamas militants infiltrated Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7. The Palestinian movement described its attack as a response to the actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and started carrying out strikes on the Palestinian enclave, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank. Over 1,900 Palestinians have been killed and about 7,700 have suffered wounds; in Israel, the death toll stands at about 1,500 and nearly 4,000 people have been wounded.