MOSCOW, October 20, /TASS/. The probability that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will launch a ground operation against radical Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip is over 50%, Israeli Ambassador to Russia Alexander Ben Zvi said.

"A state of war has been declared. During the period of a state of war, different types of operations are possible: air, sea, ground operations. Here is one of them, a ground operation; it is not being ruled out, <...> I am sure that [the probability of a ground operation] in the end is more than 50%," he said during a Rossiya-24 TV broadcast.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are underway in the West Bank of the Jordan River as well.