BEIRUT, September 5. /TASS/. At least 17 people were killed and 56 injured in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours as a result of the ongoing hostilities, the enclave's Health Ministry said.

According to the information posted on the ministry's Telegram channel, a total of 40,878 Palestinians have died since tensions escalated in Gaza, while 94,454 people have been injured.

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.