CAIRO, February 20. /TASS/. Over 29,100 people have been killed during Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip launched last October, the enclave's Health Ministry said.

"Since the beginning of the escalation of tension until now, 29,195 people have been killed as a result of Israeli aggression in Gaza," the Health Ministry said in a statement quoted by Al Hadath TV. A total of 69,170 Palestinians were injured during the same time period.

According to the ministry, 103 people died during the Israeli army's bombing of various areas of the Strip and 142 were wounded in the past day alone.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.