PARIS, October 23. /TASS/. French President Emmanuel Macron is planning to visit Israel on Tuesday, October 24, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported, citing a source in the Elysee Palace.

The visit includes a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. No other details were given. On October 20, Macron told reporters that he was planning to visit the region in the near future but only if it "helps achieve useful results."

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into 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 on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel has declared a state of war readiness; announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians; and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are underway in the West Bank as well.