TEL AVIV, December 10. /TASS/. The Israeli military has eliminated at least 7,000 Palestinian radicals during the ground operation in the Gaza Strip, Israel's National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi said.

"More than 7,000 terrorists have been wiped out," he said on Israel's Channel 12 TV, adding that this was a "minimum estimate." "It could be more, because we don't know everything that is [going on] under the rubble of destroyed buildings, in tunnels and so on," Hanegbi pointed out.

Earlier on Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces reported the deaths of five Israeli servicemen in the Gaza operation zone. According to i24 TV channel calculations, the number of Israeli casualties since the beginning of the ground operation in Gaza, according to official figures, reached 97.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian movement Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 200 hostages, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, and has been delivering air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also underway in the West Bank.