TEL AVIV, December 12./TASS/. The Israeli authorities have the US’ full support regarding the ground operation in the Gaza Strip and easing international pressure on Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

"I greatly appreciate the American support for destroying Hamas and returning our hostages," the prime minister said in a video address circulated by his Office. "Following an intensive dialogue with President Biden and his team, we received full backing for the ground incursion and blocking the international pressure to stop the war," Netanyahu said.

He admitted that "there is disagreement about 'the day after Hamas'", expressing hope "that we will reach agreement here as well."

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 the 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.

On December 8, the US vetoed a UAE-sponsored humanitarian resolution in the UN Security Council, which called for an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Thirteen of the 15 members of the Security Council, including Russia and China, voted for the resolution, while the UK abstained. This is the second time the US has blocked a UNSC resolution since the conflict started to escalate.