CAIRO, August 13. /TASS/. More than 39,900 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the Israel-Palestinian conflict escalated in October 2023, the enclave’s health ministry said on its Telegram channel.

"The number of victims of Israeli aggression to date has reached 39,929, with 92,240 people injured," the ministry reported. According to it, "32 Arabs have been killed and 88 more people have been injured in the past 24 hours alone as a result of raids and bombardment by Israeli forces."

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023 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.