DUBAI, December 21. /TASS/. The Israel Defense Forces took the city of Seida in the West Bank by storm, Palestine’s WAFA news agency reported.

According to the media outlet, Israeli troops broke into Seida in several motor vehicles and took up positions in the city center near a mosque.

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again on October 7 after militants from the radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, killing residents of border communities and taking people hostage. Israel started carrying out retaliatory strikes on targets in the Strip, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria. On December 1, the Israeli army accused Hamas of violating a ceasefire that had taken effect on November 24 and resumed combat operations in the Gaza Strip.