CAIRO, November 19. /TASS/. Nearly 44,000 Palestinians were killed and over 104,000 others were injured in the blockaded Gaza Strip due to Israeli Defense Forces' attacks since the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict began in early October 2023, the Health Ministry of the Palestinian enclave wrote on its Telegram channel.

"The death toll from Israel’s strikes on the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the current escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in early October 2023 has exceeded 43,972, with 104,008 people injured," Gaza’s Health Ministry reported. At least 50 Palestinians were killed and 110 injured in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, the agency confirmed.

Tensions escalated again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian movement Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israeli territory, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 250 hostages, including women, children, and the elderly. In response, Israel initiated a military operation in Gaza with the objective of destroying the military and political structure of Hamas and rescuing all those abducted. Military actions in the Gaza Strip continue to this day.