TEL AVIV, October 31. /TASS/. At least 240 hostages are now being held in Gaza, Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Daniel Hagari said, citing the latest data.

"We have notified the families of the 240 hostages," he said at a news conference.

Hagari also said that 315 Israeli soldiers have been killed since fighting began on Oct. 7.

"There is fierce fighting in the Gaza Strip. Our troops are currently fighting on the battlefield with courage and valor. These hostilities are dangerous, they have their price, they are difficult but necessary to achieve the goals of the war," he said.

The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7, accompanied by mass killings of residents of Israeli settlements near the border and taking hostages, including children, women and elderly people. Hamas regards the attack as a response to Israeli actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Israel has declared a complete siege of the Gaza Strip and has started delivering strikes on that area and parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.