DUBAI, January 17. /TASS/. The Israeli army's airstrikes and artillery shelling of civilian infrastructure near the city of Khan Yunis resulted in the death of 13 civilians, thus bringing the death toll in the area to 23, the Palestinian WAFA news agency reported.

According to the news agency, Israeli airstrikes hit four houses west of Khan Yunis. Several residential buildings in the city’s al-Namsawi neighborhood also came under heavy fire. Artillery shelling was reported in the Batn al-Sameen and the New Abasan areas, west and east of Khan Yunis.

Israeli air and artillery strikes also hit the neighborhoods near the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, the news agency added. Serious damage was reported to the medical facility where civilians sought refuge.

In total, according to the agency, over 24,200 people have been killed and more than 61,000 injured in the Gaza Strip since tensions escalated on October 7, 2023. Nearly 8,000 others are missing.

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 240 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 before the crisis, and has been delivering air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes have also been reported on the West Bank.