DUBAI, December 29. /TASS/. Dozens of Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed in Israeli attacks on various areas in Gaza in the past 24 hours, Palestine’s Wafa news agency reported.

According to Wafa, a strike on the Al-Fukhari neighborhood east of the city of Khan Yunis killed 11 people and left dozens wounded. At least 20 people lost their lives in an attack on a residential building in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.

Israeli aircraft also carried out strikes on the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, killing 14 civilians.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, over 21,300 people have been killed in the enclave since October 7, and more than 55,600 have suffered wounds.

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again on October 7 after militants from the radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, killing residents of border communities and taking about 200 people, including women, children and the elderly, hostage. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and started carrying out retaliatory strikes on targets in the Strip, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.