TEL AVIV, January 23. /TASS/. Israel will continue to fight until it achieves complete victory in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after over 20 servicemen of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were killed in fighting in the Palestinian enclave on January 22.

"Yesterday we experienced one of our most difficult days since the war erupted. In the name of our heroes, for the sake of our lives, we will not stop fighting until absolute victory," reads the statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office.

Netanyahu noted that the IDF has launched an investigation into the fighting. "We must learn the necessary lessons and do everything to preserve the lives of our warriors," he added.

IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on the morning of January 23 that 21 soldiers had been killed in the central Gaza Strip on the previous day.

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 240 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 have also been reported in the West Bank.