CAIRO, January 19. /TASS/. The death toll from Israeli shelling in the northern Gaza Strip has risen to 15 victims killed, with several people wounded, Al Jazeera television reported.

According to the broadcaster, the strike by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) hit a residential building near the Al-Shifa Hospital.

Palestine’s WAFA news agency, in turn, reports that Israeli strikes on a residential neighborhood in the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza killed four people and left several more wounded.

WAFA also reports that Israeli forces have blockaded and besieged several school buildings in Gaza City, where thousands of temporarily displaced persons have sought shelter. The news agency added, citing sources, that the IDF had fired phosphorus shells at the southern outskirts of Khan Yunis.

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 hundreds of people hostage. In response, Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and started carrying out strikes on targets in the enclave, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria, and subsequently launched a ground operation in the Strip. Clashes are also reported to be taking place in the West Bank.