He stressed that the Israeli Armed Forces are making "steady and methodical progress" in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

"We fought and disabled 11 to 12 of a dozen Hamas battalions in northern Gaza," Conricus told ILTV.

Earlier, Israel approved a deal with Hamas to free the hostages.

Hamas, for its part, confirmed that it had reached an agreement with Israel on a four-day truce.

According to Israel's permanent representative to the UN, Gilad Erdan, the Israeli army will continue to carry out its tasks of destroying Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the pause in the deal with the Palestinian movement ends.