BEIRUT, November 16. /TASS/. Armored vehicles of the Israeli armed forces have surrounded the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has said.

"Israeli tanks have besieged the Al-Ahli hospital in the Gaza Strip. Fierce attacks continue. PRCS teams are unable <...> to reach the wounded," the organization said in a statement posted on the social network X (formerly Twitter).

On November 14, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the Al-Ahli hospital was the only medical facility in the northern Gaza Strip and its capital that remained operational and able to accommodate patients. According to the OCHA, more than 500 people were there at the moment.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the radical Palestinian group Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its operation 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 has declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and carried out air strikes on the Palestinian enclave, as well as some areas of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also underway in the West Bank.