MOSCOW, October 30. /TASS/. Israel has no plans to destroy the Gaza Strip and relocate its residents, but seeks only to wipe out Hamas’ military capabilities, Israeli Ambassador to Russia Alexander Ben Zvi said on Rossiya-24 television.

"There is no plan to destroy the Gaza Strip. I don't know where it comes from, but there is no such plan. There is a plan to destroy Hamas’ military organization and bring back the hostages, and that’s it," the diplomat said.

He was commenting on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's statement that destroying the Gaza Strip and expelling 2 million residents from the enclave would create a disaster for decades to come, if not centuries. Ben Zvi also noted that "no relocation is being planned."

"If people live there peacefully, engage in economic activity, mind their own business, education and so on, nothing like that will happen," the ambassador said.

The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7. 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.