DUBAI, February 19. /TASS/. The US has used the start of the operation of the radical Palestinian movement Hamas against Israel in October 2023 and the subsequent reaction of Israel to strengthen its military presence in the Middle East, Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy, said.

"It seemed that the belligerent American army had left the region, but not a moment later it returned there under various pretexts. After the heroic actions of the Palestinian freedom fighters on October 7, 2023, the US re-established its presence in the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, the western Indian Ocean, and used the operation to liberate the oppressed Palestinian people as a pretext to strengthen its presence in this region and support the crimes of the Zionist regime (Israel - TASS), which is responsible for the killing of children," the Tasnim news agency quoted Tangsiri as saying.

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 that has left more than 29,000 people dead and more than 69,000 injured. Iran has repeatedly blamed the US for the deterioration of the situation in the region.