NEW YORK, October 28. /TASS/. Israel Defense Forces spokesman Peter Lerner said the announced expansion of military operations in the Gaza Strip doesn’t mean Israel is starting a major ground offensive, ABC News television reported.

He also said every effort is being made to avoid civilian casualties.

IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari earlier said the military will "expand" their activity in Gaza tonight.

The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7, accompanied by mass killings of residents of Israeli settlements near the border and taking more than 200 hostages, including children, women and elderly people. Hamas regards the attack as a response to Israeli actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Israel has declared a complete siege of the Gaza Strip and has started delivering strikes on that area and parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.