TEL AVIV, November 3. /TASS/. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) delivered air and artillery strikes on positions held by militants in the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Friday, the IDF said in a statement.

"In tandem, the forces on the ground directed aircraft and artillery airstrikes. The terrorists were killed and the danger to the troops was removed," the statement says.

According to the IDF, soldiers from the 13th Battalion of the Golani Brigade and armored troops from the 53rd Battalion, clashed with militants inside the Gaza Strip.

"The terrorists fired Anti-Tank missiles at them and activated a number of IEDs [improvised explosive devises]," the statement says.

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.

On October 27, the IDF’s chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, announced the expansion of Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza.