Online Desk: At least 310 Palestinians were killed in Gaza in a 24-hour period between Thursday and Friday as the Israeli military blasted the enclave from air, land and sea, Al Jazeera reports, citing UN data.

About 70% of the almost 17,500 people killed in Gaza since October 7 are said to be women and children. As many as 46,000 people have suffered injuries in Israeli attacks.

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again on October 7 after militants from the radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, killing residents of border communities and taking over 200 people, including women, children and the elderly, hostage.

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. Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and started carrying out retaliatory strikes on targets in the Strip, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.