CAIRO, November 8. /TASS/. At least 18 people were killed after the Israeli Defense Forces struck a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera television reported.

At least 10 children were among the victims of the shelling, the report said, without elaborating.

The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7, accompanied by killings of residents of Israeli settlements near the border and taking hostages, including children, women and elderly people. 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. Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Daniel Hagari on October 27 said the ground operation in the Gaza Strip was expanding.