CAIRO, January 22. /TASS/. The death toll from Israeli shelling of the city of Khan Yunis, located in the south of the Gaza Strip, has risen to 50, the Al Hadath TV channel reported citing a representative of the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian enclave.

According to the channel, another 100 people were injured. The Al Jazeera TV channel previously reported that the bodies of the 40 killed in the bombing of Khan Yunis were taken to the Nasser Medical Complex.

The Palestinian enclave's government press service says that Israeli forces attacked five centers for displaced people in Khan Yunis, housing at least 30,000 people. The press service's Telegram channel noted the Israeli army "claimed that these centers were safe and called for civilians to take shelter there, then conducted strikes that resulted in many deaths." The statement does not provide the exact number of people killed.

The Middle East situation dramatically escalated after Palestinian radical Hamas militants entered Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, killing border residents and taking more than 240 hostages, including children, women and the elderly. The radical movement labeled the attack a retaliation to the Israeli authorities' actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and started striking the Strip and certain areas in Lebanon and Syria before launching a ground operation in the enclave. The West Bank is also experiencing fighting.