STAMBUL, August 30. /TASS/. The international community must stop Israel which seeks to spread the conflict in the Gaza Strip to other regions, including the West Bank, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said.

"Unfortunately, Israel has transferred the atrocities it committed in Gaza to the West Bank. It is hatching plans to extend the conflict in Gaza to other regions. The [Benjamin] Netanyahu government continues to play with fire. Shame awaits all those who remain silent. Israel's barbarism must end. The only way to lasting peace is the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state," the Turkish foreign minister said in Slovenia, according to a TRT Haber TV broadcast.

"The international community must stop Israel. We will continue our efforts in this direction," Fidan emphasized.

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.