DUBAI, December 22. /TASS/. The Israel Defense Forces has raided the city of Qalqilya in the West Bank, Palestine’s WAFA news agency said.

According to the report, Israeli troops entered the city early on Friday driving light armored vehicles. They also deployed snipers at several rooftops in the city.

In a separate development, Israeli troops raided several Palestinian settlements earlier in the day, Al Jazeera said.

The Qatar-based television reported that the IDF was conducting military operations in rural settlements near the cities of Jenin and Nablus.

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 and took hostages. 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.