CAIRO, October 19. /TASS/. The number of Palestinians killed since tensions escalated in the Middle East on October 7 has risen to 3,859, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on its Telegram channel.

According to its information, at least 3,785 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip and no fewer than 74 in the West Bank.

According to the ministry, overall, more than 13,300 people have been injured. Out of this number, at least 12,000 have sustained wounds in Gaza and about 1,300 in the West Bank.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into 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 on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel has declared a state of war readiness; announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians; and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are underway in the West Bank as well.