DUBAI, September 16. /TASS/. At least five people have been killed in a strike by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on the Gaza Strip, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said.

"Amid heavy gunfire from occupation snipers, Palestine Red Crescent teams today transferred 5 martyrs and an injured person from the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in #Gaza City," the agency said on X.

The embattled enclave’s Health Ministry said that over the past 24 hours, 24 people have been killed and 57 wounded in the Gaza Strip. Since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalated, the total number of fatalities has amounted to 41,206, with 95,337 wounded.

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.