DUBAI, February 12. /TASS/. At least 10 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israeli shelling in the central part of the Gaza Strip, Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen TV channel reported.

According to it, in the city of Deir al-Balah, the bodies of 10 dead were pulled out from under the rubble of an apartment building, which was blown up by Israeli servicemen. The channel pointed out that children were among them.

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.