BERLIN, November 7. /TASS/. More than 10,000 peaceful Palestinian civilians, including some 4,000 children and 3,000 women, have been killed thus far as a result of the ongoing escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Palestinian Ambassador to Germany Laith Arafa said on Tuesday.

"It is regrettable that calls for justice and a ceasefire continue to be ignored and are erroneously interpreted as support for terrorism," he said in a statement released by the DPA news agency.

According to the diplomat, "more than 10,000 civilian Palestinians, including 4,000 children and 3,000 women, have been killed" to date.

He thanked German activists who took part in a rally in support of Palestine. "We are thankful to the tens of thousands of people who raised their voices for justice and Palestine’s freedom," Arafa stressed.

Around 8,500 people took part in a mass rally in support of Palestine in downtown Berlin on November 4. Fifty-nine activists were detained, mostly for violating rules for holding demonstrations, in particular for placing anti-Semitic banners. Some are suspected of instigating riots and hate mongering. One of the protesters attacked a reporter and was detained.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said earlier that the IDF was expanding its ground operation in Gaza.