DUBAI, February 6. /TASS/. Fourteen journalists became victims of the Israeli army's attacks on the Gaza Strip in January 2024, the WAFA news agency reported, citing the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate.

A total of 135 crimes committed by Israeli forces against journalists in Palestine were recorded last month. At the same time, eight media workers were killed as a result of direct fire on residential buildings, while another four were killed while on duty, the report said.

The syndicate pointed out that targeted attacks against journalists and their families continued in the enclave. According to the report, deliberate attacks on the homes of media workers have claimed the lives of several dozen family members.

A total of 116 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the conflict escalated on October 7, the report said. The fate of several others remains unknown after contact with them was lost.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, 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.