CAIRO, October 16. /TASS/. The militant wing of Hamas, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, has announced new rocket attacks on the Israeli cities of Ashdod and Be'er Sheva.

In a message published on the group's Telegram channel, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades said that the shelling is being carried out "in response to [Israeli] attacks on Palestinian civilians."

Earlier, the Israeli army's press service said that air alerts were sounded in Ashdod, in the south of the country, as well as in the Negev desert, which occupies the southern part of the country.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the radical Palestinian Hamas movement staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem. Israel has announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip as it has been delivering rocket attacks on Gaza as well as some districts in Lebanon and Syria.

According to the latest official data, more than 2,800 Palestinians have been killed since the renewed outbreak of violence, while over 10,900 others have suffered wounds. In Israel, over 1,500 people have lost their lives and roughly 4,000 have been wounded in clashes, including on the West Bank of the Jordan River.