DUBAI, August 22. /TASS/. At least 607 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since October 7, 2023, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

According to its report, "These include 589 killed by Israeli forces, eleven by Israeli settlers, and seven where it remains unknown whether the perpetrators were Israeli forces or settlers."

The document noted that during the same period, 15 Israelis were killed in the West Bank, including nine Israeli servicemen.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. 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 has declared a state of war readiness; announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians; and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria, followed by a ground operation in the enclave. Clashes are underway in the West Bank as well.

At the end of November 2023, Hamas reported reaching an agreement with Israel, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, on a humanitarian truce which lasted a week. Israel managed to liberate 110 hostages during this time. On December 1, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire and announced renewed fighting in the Gaza Strip, which continues to this day.