MOSCOW, October 13. /TASS/. In terms of the latest round of escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian tensions, the United States has "already done everything they could" and the rest of the world will have to clean up the mess, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.
Commenting on latest remarks by White House officials, who said the United States was not planning to send its forces in Israel to participate in the conflict, the diplomat said: "I’d say, they have already done everything they could. Now, as always, others will have to clean up the mess after them."
Tensions in the Middle East flared up again after Hamas militants infiltrated Israel from the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian movement described its attack as a response to the actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Israel declared a state of readiness for war, announced a total blockade of Gaza and started carrying out strikes on the Palestinian enclave, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank. Over 1,500 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,200 have suffered wounds; in Israel, the death toll stands at about 1,500 and almost 4,000 people have been wounded.