CAIRO, January 18. /TASS/. The death toll in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israeli strikes has exceeded 24,600 since the outbreak of hostilities on October 7, 2023, Palestinian enclave Health Ministry’s Spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said.

"The number of dead as a result of Israeli aggression since October 7 of last year has increased to 24,620, with 61,830 wounded," he said in a statement published on the health agency's official Telegram channel.

According to Al-Qudra, during just the past 24 hours alone, "172 people have been killed and 326 wounded." He stressed that many bodies remained under the rubble, or on the roads of the enclave, since medics had difficulties with reaching certain sites.

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from Gaza. 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. Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and started carrying out airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria in retaliation for strikes originating in these countries, and launched a ground offensive against Hamas’ strongholds in Gaza. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.