TEL AVIV, December 5. /TASS/. The Israeli military has detained more than 1,200 people suspected of Hamas-related terrorist activities in the West Bank over the past two months, Israeli Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi said.

"In the Central Command, in Judea and Samaria (Israeli designation of the West Bank - TASS), we are increasing the fight against terrorism, so far we must say with great success. In the last two months, over 1,200 Hamas operatives were apprehended in Judea and Samaria, many terrorists who carried out attacks, some very serious attacks in the past, some that were planning to carry out future attacks. They were arrested or killed, and we are very determined to continue this effort," he 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.