PARIS, October 30. /TASS/. Israeli tanks were spotted on the outskirts of Gaza City, the AFP news agency reported referring to eyewitnesses.

According to them, the armored vehicles blocked the main road connecting the northern and southern areas of the Gaza Strip.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the radical Palestinian movement Hamas 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 on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and has been delivering rocket attacks on Gaza as well as some districts in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.

Earlier, Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that Israel was "expanding ground operations" in the Gaza Strip.