MOSCOW, December 6. /TASS/. It will take weeks or even months for Israel to achieve its military goals in the Gaza Strip, the Jewish state’s Ambassador to Russia Alexander Ben Zvi has told TASS.

Answering to a relevant question from a TASS correspondent, he said: "Yes, it would be fair to say so."

"Planning depends on military successes. I am not in a position to comment on these matters. But I can say with certainty that it will take weeks," the diplomat added.

Commenting on remarks that there are no safe zones in the south of Gaza at this point, Ben Zvi replied that he could only partially agree to this opinion.

"Combat operations are now taking place in the south, it is true," he said. "But the IDF divided this zone into several areas. And it informs residents beforehand which areas they should leave to avoid danger."

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.