TEL AVIV, January 14. /TASS/. Israel will not stop until it defeats Hamas, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said.

"We (Israel - TASS) will not stop until Hamas is defeated. One hundred days have passed since Hamas staged an atrocious attack on Israel, killing, raping and torturing children, women and men. One hundred days have passed since the day when our near and dear were taken hostage in Gaza. One hundred days have passed and we will not stop until we win," he said.

According to the minister, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is fighting "the most just war" in Israel’s history. "And although we are confronted with the brutal enemy, we continue to maintain the moral and professional standards, taking measures to separate civilians from terrorists," he added.

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.