GENEVA, Nov 8, 2023 (71newsbd/TASS) - At least 89 staff members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) have been killed in the Gaza Strip since October 7, the organization said.

"In one month, 89 UNRWA colleagues have been killed and at least 26 injured in the Gaza Strip," the mission said on the X social network, formerly known as Twitter. "Our colleagues will be greatly missed, and they will not be forgotten."

The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7, accompanied by killings of residents of Israeli settlements near the border and taking more than 200 hostages, including children, women and elderly people. Hamas regards the attack as a response to Israeli actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Israel has declared a complete siege of the Gaza Strip and has started delivering strikes on that area and parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.

On October 27, the IDF's chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, announced the expansion of Israel's ground offensive in Gaza.