CAIRO, December 7. /TASS/. More than 17,000 Gaza residents died in the Middle East conflict, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

"Since the beginning of the Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 17,177 people have become victims of shelling and bombardment," the Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement quoted by the Al Hadath TV channel. During the same period, the ministry said, more than 46,000 people were injured in the enclave.

The ministry pointed out that in the past 24 hours alone, 350 people were killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza.

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. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, and has been delivering air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also underway in the West Bank.