DUBAI, July 30. /TASS/. The Israeli army is storming the al-Ein refugee camp, which is located west of Nablus in the West Bank, Palestine’s WAFA news agency reported.

According to it, a large number of Israeli troops entered the camp in the early morning, surrounded a residential building and blocked its exits and entrances. Snipers were stationed on the roofs of nearby houses. A massive exchange of fire was reported. No further details were given.

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.