TEL AVIV, November 2. /TASS/. Israel continues to conduct a military operation in the Gaza Strip to destroy Hamas and the option of a ceasefire is not on the table, Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Daniel Hagari said.

"The term ‘ceasefire’ is not at all on the table at the moment. The IDF is waging a war to destroy Hamas," he said at a news conference.

US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby earlier said the US is calling for a series of pauses in hostilities in the area of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He said the pauses should be aimed at continuing the delivery of humanitarian aid and ensuring the evacuation of people, including hostages, from the combat zone. He said the US is not seeking a complete ceasefire in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

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 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.