CAIRO, November 17. /TASS/. More than 12,000 people have died in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of dramatic escalation in the Palestinian enclave, the Gaza government said on Friday.
"As a result of the Israeli aggression, more than 12,000 people, including 5,000 children and 3,300 women, have died in the Gaza Strip since October 7," it wrote on its Facebook account (Facebook is banned in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which has been designated as extremist).
Apart from that, nearly 30,000 people have been wounded. Women and children account for 75%
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.