CAIRO, February 14. /TASS/. The death toll in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israeli strikes has approached 28,600; over 68,200 people have been injured, the embattled enclave’s Health Ministry reports on its Telegram channel.

"The death toll as a result of Israeli aggression has increased to 28,576 since October last year, and 68,291 more people have been injured," the report says.

According to the Health Ministry, over the past day, as a result of Israeli actions in Gaza, "103 people have been killed and 145 more have been injured." The statement stresses that the bodies of many of the dead remain under destroyed buildings and on roads. Ambulance crews and civil defense representatives are unable to reach them.

Tensions flared up in the Middle East after the infiltration of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, accompanied by the killing of residents of border settlements and the taking over 200 hostages, including children, women and the elderly. The radicals described their attack as a response to the actions of the Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Israel declared a total blockade of Gaza and began to conduct strikes on the sector as well as certain areas of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank of the Jordan River.