CAIRO, January 2. /TASS/. The number of people killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip has reached 22,185, the Palestinian enclave’s Health Ministry said.

"The number of people killed in the Israeli aggression since October 7 has risen to 22,185. As many as 57,035 people have suffered wounds," the ministry said in a statement on Facebook (prohibited in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which has been designated as extremist).

According to the ministry, 207 people were killed in the past day and 338 were wounded.

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 over 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.