CAIRO, February 27. /TASS/. Nearly 100 people have been killed and over 170 injured over the past 24 hours as a result of bombing and shelling by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on various areas of the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian enclave's Health Ministry said on its official Telegram channel.

"Over the past 24 hours, 96 people were killed and 172 others were injured," the Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement. The public health authority also stressed that "the total number of victims of Israeli aggression since last October has risen to 29,878, with another 70,215 injured." The bodies of some of the victims remain under the rubble, medical and rescue workers are not able to reach them yet.

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.