CAIRO, May 2. /TASS/. At least 28 people have been killed and 51 injured as a result of the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, the enclave’s Health Ministry reported.

"The number of victims of the Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip increased to 34,596, another 77,816 people were injured," the ministry said in a statement published on its official Telegram channel. The ministry added that 28 people were killed and 51 injured in Gaza over the past 24 hours.

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. On December 1, 2023, the Israeli army accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire that had been in effect since November 24 and announced that it would resume fighting in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian officials blamed the United States for the renewed Israeli aggression.