TEL AVIV, February 12. /TASS/. Israel has imposed an entry ban on Francesca Albanese, the UN’s Special Rapporteur for human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, over her anti-Semitic statements, the Israeli foreign ministry said.

"Today, on Monday, Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel made a decision to deny entry to Israel to UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in the Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese," it said.

According to the ministry, the move was related to a tweet made by Albanese, where she said that "the victims in the October 7 massacre were not killed because of their Judaism, but in response to Israeli oppression." Apart from that, the Israeli ministers called on the United Nations to dismiss the special rapporteur.

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 240 Israelis. 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.