TEL AVIV, December 21. /TASS/. Israel currently has no plans to reduce the intensity of combat operations in the Gaza Strip by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) against militants of the radical Palestinian movement Hamas, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said in an interview with the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

"Based on the latest results of a political discussion, decreasing the intensity of military activity, at least, in the next few weeks, is out of the question," the top Israeli diplomat stressed.

That said, the newspaper thinks that by mid-January, combat in the Palestinian enclave will gradually subside because a new humanitarian pause is likely. Most IDF reservists will be able to return home, while the military will be engaged in preparing a kilometer-wide buffer zone separating Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, Yedioth Ahronoth insists. The news outlet thinks that the imminent lull in combat is also indicated by a rapid expansion of the IDF’s ground operations, potentially aimed at securing the most advantageous positions before any potential truce is agreed.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when Hamas militants staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. 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 has declared a state of war readiness; announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians; and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are underway in the West Bank as well.

On November 22, Hamas reported reaching an agreement with Israel, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, on a four-day humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip that came into effect on November 24. The agreements envisaged the release of 50 women, children and teenagers held in the enclave in exchange for the release of 150 women, children and teenagers from Israeli prisons. The sides extended the agreement several times on the same terms, that is, three Palestinian prisoners would be released in exchange for every Israeli hostage freed by Hamas. On December 1, the IDF accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire and announced renewed fighting in the Gaza Strip. On December 5, Hamas Political Bureau member Osama Hamdan said that the militants would not release the remaining hostages until Israel ceases its aggression in Gaza.