TEL AVIV, February 12. /TASS/. The Israeli army has lost two more servicemen in the fighting with the radical Palestinian movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the army's press service said.

The two servicemen were killed in the south of the Gaza Strip. This brings the total number of Israeli army casualties since the escalation of the conflict to 566.

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.