TEL AVIV, November 24. /TASS/. The Israeli troops will remain at their positions in the Gaza Strip during a ceasefire, declared as part of the deal to release some Israeli hostages held in the enclave, the Israeli Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said.

"With the entry into force of the operational pause, our forces will be positioned along the agreed upon line, inside the Gaza Strip. I would like to emphasize, inside the Gaza Strip, and they will move along these lines, lines which were agreed upon," he told reporters.

The IDF plans to use the pause to for preparations and planning.

"Taking control of the northern Gaza Strip is the first stage in a long war, and we are preparing for the next stages. We are looking ahead in anticipation. In the next few days, we will focus on planning and the final preparations for the next stages of the war," Hagari said.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.

Hamas announced on November 22 that an agreement on a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip had been reached through the mediation of Qatar and Egypt. The movement confirmed that the agreement stipulated the release of 50 women and children under the age of 19 who are held in Gaza in exchange for the release of 150 women and children under the age of 19 from Israeli prisons.