DUBAI, December 18. /TASS/. The number of journalists killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of fresh hostilities in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on October 7 has risen to 95, Al Jazeera television reported, citing the Palestinian enclave’s government press service.

On December 13, the Qatar-based television news channel reported data on 89 journalists killed in Gaza while covering the ongoing conflict.

Tensions in the Middle East escalated sharply on October 7 after radical Gaza Strip-based Palestinian movement Hamas launched a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of border settlements and seizing more than 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 Town. Israel has declared a complete blockade of Gaza and has begun retaliatory strikes on the enclave as well as parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.