TEL AVIV, December 4. /TASS/. The Israel Defense Force (IDF) pledged that it would do everything to bring back the hostages still being held by the Palestinian radical movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip in every way, the Israeli army spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, said.

"We will continue to do everything to bring back the hostages," Hagari said.

According to him, Hamas still holds 137 hostages who were abducted in the Gaza Strip on October 7. "They are constantly on our minds. We continue to invest significant efforts in intelligence and operational fronts, to bring information about the condition of the hostages," 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 siege of Gaza and started carrying out strikes on the Palestinian enclave, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.