At least seven Palestinians were killed in the operation conducted by the Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, a representative of the region’s medical service told Sputnik.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli forces destroyed a tunnel under the border of Gaza Strip, killing members of the Palestinian Hamas movement’s paramilitary wing and their allies from the Islamic Jihad Movement. Both organizations are listed as terrorist by Israel and the United States.

“According to the latest information, seven people died, another 11 were injured,” the spokesperson told Sputnik late on Monday.

Hamas in a statement called the Israeli operation a “crime” and “a dangerous escalation” against Palestine, stating that the actions of the Israeli forces were aimed to “foil the ongoing Palestinian efforts to achieve the internal reconciliation.”

Earlier in October, Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, reached an agreement with the Fatah movement, controlling the West Bank through the Palestinian National Authority. According to the agreement between Fatah and Hamas, the national unity government should start its work no later than December 1. The government, which was created in 2014, has been blocked from ruling in Gaza by Hamas, and held its first session in the region in early October.