BEIRUT, May 7. /TASS/. An elderly Israeli woman who was held hostage in the Gaza Strip has died of wounds, Abu Ubaida, spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said.

According to his post on the group’s Telegram channel, the 70-year-old woman received wounds when the premises she was held in came under shelling about a month ago.

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 240 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. 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.