BEIRUT, February 26. /TASS/. At least 29,782 people have been killed and another 70,043 injured in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, the enclave's Health Ministry said on its Telegram channel.

According to the ministry, 90 people were killed in Gaza over the past 24 hours, while another 164 were injured.

The ministry also said that many bodies of the dead still remain in the streets and under the rubble of destroyed buildings.

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.