CAIRO, July 22. /TASS/. More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli army's actions since the start of the military operation in October, the enclave's Health Ministry said.

"The number of victims of the Israeli aggression has reached 39,006 so far," the ministry said in a statement. According to its information, 89,818 Palestinians were injured in Gaza during the same period.

In the past day alone, the ministry said, 23 Arabs were killed and 93 wounded as a result of Israeli shelling.

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.