UNITED NATIONS, October 13. /TASS/. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) issued a flash appeal to the international community to collect $294 for meeting basic needs of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

According to the report, the organization "calls for approximately US $ 294 million for 77 humanitarian partners to address the most urgent needs of 1,260,000 people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank."

"Over the past years, the international community contributed generously to the Humanitarian Response Plans (HRP) to address the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people. However, funding in 2023 has been a challenge and the humanitarian needs compounded," the organization added.

The organization also reported that the number of internally displaced persons, forced to flee their homes as a result of hostilities, has reached 423,378. Their number grew by 25% over the past 24 hours. Two thirds of them have been accommodated at schools of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again after Hamas militants infiltrated Israel from the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian movement described its attack as a response to the actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Israel declared a state of readiness for war, announced a total blockade of Gaza and started carrying out strikes on the Palestinian enclave, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank. Over 1,500 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,200 have suffered wounds; in Israel, the death toll stands at about 1,500 and almost 4,000 people have been wounded.