RABAT, January 15. /TASS/. The US and Europe should impose sanctions against Israel to get it to stop its "criminal" activity, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said in Ramallah, addressing a government meeting.

"The US, Europe and Israel's sponsors must stop Israel's crimes since it does not listen to anyone, and they must move on from political pampering to sanctions against this criminal state," WAFA news agency quoted him as saying.

Shtayyeh spoke in favor of allowing international journalists into the Gaza Strip to document Israel's crimes.

He also accused Israel of seeking to destroy the Palestinian Authority. "The strength and legitimacy of the Palestinian authorities comes from its people and from our belief in the right to end the occupation and establish our own state with Jerusalem as its capital," the prime minister added.

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.