CAIRO, October 17. /TASS/. At least 78 people were killed and hundreds were wounded as a result of the Israeli army's shelling of residential neighborhoods in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday evening, the Sky News - Arabiya TV channel reported.

According to it, the Israeli forces struck the cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, located in the southern part of the enclave.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that 2,778 people have been killed in Israeli bombing and shelling in the Gaza Strip, while over 10,000 have suffered wounds.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the radical Palestinian movement Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem. Israel has announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip as it has been delivering rocket attacks on Gaza as well as some districts in Lebanon and Syria.

According to the latest official data, in Israel, over 1,500 people have lost their lives and roughly 4,000 have been wounded in clashes, including on the West Bank of the Jordan River.