NEW YORK, October 30. /TASS/. The Israeli military's goal is to eliminate at least 10,000 of the estimated 30,000 militants fighting for the Palestinian radical movement Hamas in the region, the Bloomberg news agency reported citing the former chief of the Israeli military intelligence Amos Yadlin.

Yadlin noted that Israel does not aim to "occupy and control two million Palestinians." According to him, Jerusalem could establish a buffer zone when the fighting ends to prevent another militant attack.

Israeli security sources told Bloomberg that a team had previously been formed to eliminate all Hamas leaders involved in the October 7 attack.

Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Daniel Hagari said earlier that the country’s ground troops were expanding operations in the Gaza Strip. According to him, the Israeli Air Forces are attacking underground targets and terrorist infrastructure to prepare for a ground operation.

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 killings of residents of Israeli settlements near the border and taking 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.