BEIRUT, November 1. /TASS/. The international community needs to ensure uninterrupted humanitarian assistance to the people of the Gaza Strip, suffering from the ongoing hostilities between Israel and HAMAS, the Al Mamlaka TV channel quoted King Abdullah II of Jordan as saying.

"A humanitarian ceasefire needs to be announced in the Palestinian enclave immediately," the king was quoted as saying after talks with US President Joe Biden. "We need to forge a ceasefire and to switch from hostilities to a political settlement."

In his opinion, the only way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "is to create an independent Palestinian state with a capital in East Jerusalem, which would co-exist with Israel peacefully."

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when Hamas militants 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.

On October 27, the IDF’s chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, announced the expansion of Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza.