DUBAI, September 20. /TASS/. At least 11 people have been killed as a result of Israeli army actions in the central and southern areas of the Gaza Strip, Palestine’s WAFA news agency reported.

According to its information, at least seven Palestinians were killed in Israeli raids in the northern neighborhoods of Gaza. Two others were killed in an Israeli air force strike on residential buildings in the town of al-Qarara in the south of the enclave, north of Khan Yunis.

In addition, two people were killed when the Israeli servicemen opened fire on a civilian vehicle at the entrance to the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

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.