TEL AVIV, December 13. /TASS/. Israel has lost eight more soldiers in clashes with the radical Palestinian movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

Three Israeli soldiers were badly wounded.

Since the beginning of the ground operation in the Gaza Strip in late November, the IDF’s losses have amounted to 113. More that 550 soldiers have been wounded.

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.