NEW YORK, November 8. /TASS/. Israel’s security forces will remain in the Gaza Strip even after the ongoing operation against the Hamas movement in the enclave is completed, said Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"When this is over and we have defeated Hamas, it is crucial that there won’t be a resurgent terrorist element, a resurgent Hamas. There is no point doing this and just going back to square one," Regev told CNN. "There will have to be an Israeli security presence [in the Gaza Strip]."

At the same time, the adviser added that the presence of Israeli security forces "doesn’t mean Israel is re-occupying Gaza," and is planning to govern the enclave.

Netanyahu said earlier this week that Israel will have the overall security responsibility in the Gaza Strip "for an indefinite period."

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.