DUBAI, March 12. /TASS/. The number of hunger-related deaths recorded in Gaza Strip hospitals has grown to 27, Qatar-based Al Jazeera television reported.

According to the broadcaster, two children who died at Kamal Adwan Hospital were the latest victims of starvation.

Earlier, the World Health Organization said that over 15% of children in Gaza "are acutely malnourished" and almost three percent of them "suffer from severe wasting." The WHO added that the decline in the Gaza population’s nutritional status in the previous few months was "unprecedented globally."

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again on October 7, 2023, after militants from the radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, killing residents of border communities and taking hundreds of hostages. In response, Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and started carrying out strikes on targets in the Strip and certain areas of Lebanon and Syria, eventually launching a ground operation in the enclave. Clashes have also been reported in the West Bank.