LONDON, December 4. /TASS/. Israeli authorities believe that militants of the Palestinian Hamas movement make up the majority of the dead as a result of the Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip, the Sky News TV channel reported, citing Jerusalem deputy mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum.

"We don't know if the death toll is high <....>. I'm sure it's thousands, but we believe that most of them are combatants because we've been doing as much as we can to make it into a tweezer operation," she said. Hassan-Nahoum pointed out that the Israeli authorities "are not playing a numbers game," noting that what is happening in the Palestinian enclave is "just tragic."

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian movement Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 200 hostages, including women, children and the elderly. On the morning of December 1, the Israeli army accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire and announced that it was resuming combat operations in Gaza. Palestinian officials blamed the US for the renewed Israeli aggression. The humanitarian pause in the enclave has been in effect since November 24.

Palestinian Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra reported on December 3 that the number of fatalities as a result of the escalation of the Middle East conflict has exceeded 15,500, and more than 41,000 people have been injured.