CAIRO, December 6. /TASS/. Israeli authorities are restricting the movement of people living in the Gaza Strip and compelling Palestinians to head towards the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said.

"Israel demands that the Palestinians in Gaza who have already fled their homes move in a certain direction, restricts their mobility, and forces them to go towards the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border," the ministry said in a statement, quoted by the Al-Qahera Al-Ekhbariya television channel.

According to the ministry, Israel "is beginning to realize that the time granted to it to carry out the [Gaza] war with the support of a number of nations is running out, so the [Israeli] authorities are seeking to get the Gazans to head towards the Rafah crossing."

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said that Israel "is turning the Gaza Strip into uninhabitable ruins and is sparing no effort to force the population out."

"Only in such a brutal way can Israel declare that it has achieved its objectives," the ministry said.

Cairo has reiterated its adamant disagreement with the plan to relocate Palestinians - both internally and beyond the Gaza Strip, especially to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Egypt insists any attempts to resolve the conflict at the expense of the Palestinians or regional nations should be met with opposition, and that trying to deport Palestinians from their land is inacceptable.

Tensions flared up in the Middle East after Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip attacked Israeli territory on October 7, when many Israelis living in the settlements near the border were killed and over 200 people, including children, women and the elderly, were taken hostage. Hamas views its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ steps against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria. During the escalation, the death toll in Gaza has exceeded 16,000. Most of those killed are children and women.