MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/. Washington bears full responsibility for events unfolding in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"The entire current collapse on the territory [of the Gaza Strip], where a colossal tragedy related to the Palestinian-Israeli confrontation has unfolded, is completely and fully the responsibility of the United States, or, rather, I should say, [due to] the irresponsibility [of the US]. It is only they [who are responsible]," she told the Sputnik radio station.

According to the diplomat, it was precisely Washington’s policies that have served as the primary sources of tension in the conflict zone.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the Gaza Strip-based Palestinian radical 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. In response, Israel declared a state of war readiness; announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians; and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are underway in the West Bank as well.