TEL AVIV, November 21. /TASS/. The Israeli army has completed the encirclement of the city of Jabaliya in the northeastern part of the Gaza Strip, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday.

He told an evening briefing that the IDF continued to deepen operations in Gaza and completed the encirclement of Jabaliya, which is considered a Hamas stronghold.

He also said that during the day the Israeli military continues to explore the underground tunnel under Al-Shifa Hospital. According to the IDF, Hamas has established a wide terrorist infrastructure in territories of medical establishments in Gaza and is using patients and medical personnel as a human shield. "This is a war crime. It violated international law and we will continue to expose it before the world to uproot such practices," the spokesman said.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.