TEL AVIV, November 27. /TASS/. The Israel Defense Forces will return to fighting with more strength and operate across all of the Gaza Strip after the truce ends, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said.

"You now have a few days. We will return to fighting, we will use the same amount of power and more," he said when meeting with the Givati Infantry Brigade, the Times of Israel reported. "We will fight in the entire Strip."

Gallant said that while the Israeli troops were resting and investigating, the enemy was doing the same.

"You will meet something that is a little more ready. Therefore, [Hamas] will meet first the bombs of the Air Force, and after that the shells of the tanks and the artillery and the scoops of the D9 [bulldozers], and finally also gunfire of the infantry troops," he said.

Hamas said on November 22 it had reached an agreement with Israel, which was brokered by Qatar and Egypt, to introduce a humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip for four days. The group said that the agreement involves the release of 50 women and children under the age of 19 that are held in the enclave in exchange for the release of 150 women and children under the age of 19 from Israeli prisons. The Gaza truce kicked off at 5:00 a.m. GMT on November 24, and the first group of hostages walked free the same day. From the very start, the agreement stipulated the possibility of extending the pause by one day for the release of each additional group of 10 hostages.

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 has cast the attack as a response to Israeli actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Israel has declared a complete siege of the Gaza Strip and started a military operation there. Israel also strikes parts of Lebanon and Syria in retaliation for bombardments originating from these countries. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.