TEL AVIV, February 18. /TASS/. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported strikes on several command centers of the radical Palestinian movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

"The IDF struck a series of operational command and control centers in the central Gaza Strip in which Hamas terrorists were operating. A short while ago, IDF fighter jets completed a series of strikes against the Hamas terrorist organization in the areas of Nuseirat and Deir al Balah [in the central part of the Palestinian enclave]," the army's press service said in a statement. According to it, the shelling was carried out "based on intelligence."

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian movement Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 240 hostages, including women, children and the elderly. 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 declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians before the crisis, and has been delivering air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes have also been reported on the West Bank.