DUBAI, December 25. /TASS/. At least eight Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ongoing operations in the West Bank, Qatar’s Al Jazeera reported.

According to the TV channel, Israeli servicemen entered a refugee camp in Tulkarm with bulldozers, destroying roads and other critical infrastructure. At the same time, the Israeli army is carrying out checks in the Nur Shams refugee camp, Al Jazeera said, adding that the Israeli army has stepped up its raids in the occupied Middle East over the past 14 months.

In turn, Palestine’s WAFA news agency reported that Israeli servicemen stormed Nablus overnight and raided an apartment building. The army also took control of the village of Nabi Salih, northwest of Ramallah.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 250 hostages, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as retaliation for the aggressive actions taken by 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, launching air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria before starting a ground operation in the Palestinian enclave.