BEIRUT, February 2. /TASS/. At least 152 employees of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) have been killed since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict escalated on October 7 of last year, according to data on the agency’s website.

"As of 31 January, the total number of UNRWA colleagues killed since the beginning of hostilities is now 152," UNRWA says.

According to the agency, since the onset of the escalation, at least 376 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in UNRWA shelters have been killed and 1,365 sustained wounds. Up to 1.7 mln people had to leave their homes.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. 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 has declared a state of war readiness; announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians; and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are underway in the West Bank as well.