TEL AVIV, December 5. /TASS/. The Gaza Strip must remain demilitarized after Israel’s military operation in the enclave, and the Israel Defense Forces should be in charge of the process, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.

"Gaza must be demilitarized, and there is only one force capable of doing this, namely the Israel Defense Forces. No other international player can be put in charge of this," he told reporters.

"We saw what happened in other places, where international forces were deployed for demilitarization. I’m not going to turn a blind eye to this and to make such decisions," the Israeli prime minister added.

He went on to declare that Israel will accomplish its military operation in Gaza despite mounting international pressure.

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.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on the morning of December 1 that Hamas had violated the truce in Gaza and opened fire on Israeli territory, thus prompting the IDF to resume combat operations in the Gaza Strip.