MOSCOW, October 19. /TASS/. The Russian agency for international humanitarian cooperation has suspended the work of its cultural centers, known as Russian Houses, in Israel and Palestine, said Yevgeny Primakov, the agency’s head.

"Israel isn’t holding any cultural and mass events at this time. Palestine isn’t either. Also, the Palestinian Authority has declared mourning. In connection with this, and in coordination with the Russian Embassy in Israel and with the Russian diplomatic mission to the Palestinian Authority, our Russian Houses in both locations have put their operations in offices on pause," he said on Telegram.

According to Primakov, the centers will resume work as soon as conditions change.

The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7. Hamas regards the attack as a response to Israeli actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Israel has declared a complete siege of the Gaza Strip and has started delivering strikes on that area and parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.