DUBAI, October 18. /TASS/. Over 1,300 children have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict started to escalate, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said.

"The Israeli war machine has killed over 1,300 kids, while its strikes on the Gaza Strip have led to more than one million Palestinians being forced from their homes in a week," he pointed out, addressing a session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Executive Committee in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Al-Maliki stressed that a child is killed in the Palestinian enclave every 15 minutes.

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again after Hamas militants infiltrated Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7. 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 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. More than 3,400 Palestinians have been killed and over 12,000 have suffered wounds; in Israel, the death toll stands at about 1,500 and over 4,200 people have been wounded.