SYDNEY, October 23. /TASS/. The Israeli ground operation in the Gaza Strip is almost inevitable if the militants of the Palestinian Hamas movement do not release all hostages and lay down their arms, Jonathan Conricus, spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), told the Australian ABC radio.

"The aim here is to totally dismantle Hamas from its military capabilities. If that can be done from the air and with stand-off measures, with very limited exposure to our troops and less damage on the ground, that would be great," he said, speaking about the necessity to conduct a ground operation. "If Hamas was to come out of their hiding places, <…> return our hostages, all 212 of them, and surrender unconditionally, then the war would end," the spokesman pointed out. "If they won't, we would probably have to go in and get it done," he emphasized.

Earlier, CNN reported that Washington had pressured Israel to delay the start of a ground operation in Gaza and to release hostages held in the enclave. However, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on NBC that Israel should make its own decision to launch a ground operation, and that Washington could only give advice.

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.