MOSCOW, November 7. /TASS/. Russian nationals are expected to be evacuated from the Gaza Strip in the next few days, a diplomat told TASS.

"There are reasons to expect that Russian citizens will be evacuated from the Gaza Strip in the next couple of days," he said.

Earlier, Aliya Zaripova, spokeswoman for the Russian mission to the Palestinian National Authority, told TASS that Russian nationals had been alerted to gather at the Rafah checkpoint for a potential evacuation.

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again on October 7 when Hamas militants launched a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian movement 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. Israel declared a total siege 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.