MOSCOW, December 20. /TASS/. The US policy on the situation in the Gaza Strip harms both Palestinians and Israelis, as it helps the crisis to worsen and new risks to emerge, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"Everything the US is doing is directed against both Israelis and Palestinians. The US policy in the region leads to deaths on both sides, and what’s more, to nothing else but an escalation of the crisis in the Middle East. Not to the deescalation of the situation, but to the deterioration of the general situation and to the emergence of such risks for the future of the region, which can have a truly fatal result," she said at a news conference.

Zakharova also said the position of the American leadership on the current crisis in the Middle East can be described as anti-Semitic.

The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7. Hamas has cast the attack as a response to Israeli actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Israel has declared a complete siege of the Gaza Strip and started a military operation there. Israel also strikes parts of Lebanon and Syria in retaliation for bombardments originating from these countries. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.