DUBAI, August 17. /TASS/. A total of 115 babies have been killed in the Gaza Strip since tensions escalated between the radical Palestinian movement Hamas and Israel, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories said.
According to its information, all the dead were under the age of eight months. "These include 48 (42%) who were less than one month old at the time of their death," the statement said.
The agency also pointed out the enclave's health ministry had earlier reported that as of August 1, 2024, 10,627 children, including 663 under the age of one, were among the 32,280 dead whose identities had been established and documented.
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. In late November 2023, a temporary humanitarian ceasefire was brokered by Egypt and Qatar that lasted a week, during which 110 hostages were released, according to Israel. On December 1, the ceasefire was violated and fighting resumed, continuing to this day.