CAIRO, February 8. /TASS/. The number of Palestinians killed in Israeli shelling attacks on the Gaza Strip has nearly approached 28,000, the embattled enclave’s Health Ministry said.

"From October 7, 2023 to date, 27,947 people have been killed as a result of Israeli bombing and shelling in Gaza," the Health Ministry said in a statement quoted by Al Jazeera television. During the same period, 67,459 Palestinians have been injured, according to the public health agency. It pointed out that in the past 24 hours alone, 107 people were killed and 142 wounded in attacks by Israel on Gaza.

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again on October 7, 2023, 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 hostage. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and started carrying out retaliatory strikes on targets in the Strip, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria. On December 1, the Israeli army accused Hamas of violating a ceasefire that had taken effect on November 24 and resumed combat operations in the Gaza Strip. Palestinians held the US responsible for the renewed Israeli aggression.