MADRID, November 9. /TASS/. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has "blocked" the release of hostages with dual citizenship currently being held in the Gaza Strip, Osama Hamdan, a leader of the radical Palestinian movement Hamas, said.

"We were ready to free the hostages that hold dual passports but Netanyahu refused at the last moment, as a mediator told us," Hamdan said in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

"We agreed to all talks but Netanyahu blocked a deal all of a sudden, a day before the start of the ground invasion," he noted. "We certainly want to release the hostages and our prisoners, but it is just a battle in the long fight against occupation," the Hamas political bureau member pointed out.

According to him, Israel must stop "its ground offensive, release the [Palestinian] prisoners, allow the access of humanitarian aid, and end the siege" of the Gaza Strip.

Hamdan also said that Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif had ordered the movement’s militants "not to attack women, children and the elderly" on October 7. "However, when we took control of military positions, a security gap emerged and things got out of hand," he added.

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from Gaza. 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 Gaza and started carrying out airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria, and launched a ground offensive against Hamas’ strongholds in Gaza. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank. On October 27, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari announced the expansion of the Israeli ground operation in Gaza.