JERUSALEM, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. special Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt on Sunday took a tour near the fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip, and called on Hamas to stop "to attack Israel."

The tour, guided by senior Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officers, included a visit inside a cross-border tunnel, dug by Hamas, the organization that runs Gaza. The tunnel was recently exposed by the Israeli military.

Greenblatt, the White House' Special Representative for International Negotiations, also heard a briefing from Brig. Gen. Yehuda Fox.

After the tour, Greenblatt urged Hamas to stop their struggle against Israel. "Hamas wastes resources on tunnels and rockets to attack Israel, instead of helping the people of Gaza by getting the lights on, the water flowing and the economy growing," Greenblatt wrote on his Twitter account.

"Hamas spews hateful rhetoric and foments a vicious cycle of violence. Gaza deserves better!" he wrote.

The tour was made amidst heightened tensions in the region following U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The December 6 statement sparked a fresh wave of Palestinian protest and violence, which have claimed the lives of at least 12 Palestinians, according to local media, and an Israeli man.

Gaza has been under a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt since 2007, a year after Hamas, an Islamist Palestinian movement, won the legislative elections in the enclave.

The Palestinians struggle against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, which Israel controls since the 1967 Middle East war, despite international criticism.