DUBAI, November 29. /TASS/. More than 50,000 residential buildings in the Gaza Strip were razed to the ground as a result of Israeli air strikes, the Maan news agency said citing the enclave’s government.

According to the report, Israeli attacks "completely destroyed more than 50,000 dwellings and damaged another 250,000."

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said that more than 40% of all residential houses in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed. Over 12,000 civilians were killed, including 5,000 children. He described the situation in the enclave as a catastrophe, adding that the region is experiencing shortages of water, food, medicines and electricity.

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.