CAIRO, January 9. /TASS/. Over 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in the blockaded Gaza Strip due to Israeli attacks since the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict began in early October 2023, the Health Ministry of the Palestinian enclave reported on Thursday.
"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 surpassed 46,006, with 109,378 people injured," Gaza’s Health Ministry said on its Telegram channel. At least 70 Palestinians were killed and 104 others were injured in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, the agency added.
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 Israel’s 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.