DUBAI, February 10. /TASS/. Israeli troops have detained at least 17 doctors, patients and visitors at Al-Amal hospital in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on the social network X.

"Israeli occupation forces have arrested eight PRCS team members at Al-Amal Hospital, including four doctors, as well as four wounded individuals and five patients’ companions," the agency said.

It noted that the raid on the hospital lasted about 10 hours with Israeli troops conducting searches, interrogations, damaging equipment and other property and harassing people.

The PRCS added that the Israeli servicemen appropriated money and personal belongings of the hospital staff, patients and visitors and confiscated their laptops and phones.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. 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 has 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.