CAIRO, October 13. /TASS/. More than 42,200 Palestinians have been killed and about 98,500 injured in the Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli operation in the enclave that began in October 2023, the Health Ministry reported.

"The number of people killed by Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip since October 2023 has risen to 42,227, with another 98,464 injured," the ministry said in a statement on its Telegram channel. The ministry pointed out that "over the past 24 hours, 52 Palestinians were killed and 128 others were injured as a result of Israeli shelling of various areas of the enclave."

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 250 hostages, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as retaliation for the aggressive actions taken by 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, launching air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria before starting a ground operation in the Palestinian enclave.