ANKARA 

Hate incidents against Muslims have increased since the start of the conflict in Gaza last October, according to a new report.

“Muslims received blame for the attack and other attacks in the Middle East, based on stereotyping of whole communities and their perceived connections with the use of violence,” Council of Europe Commission against Racism said in its annual report on Thursday.

Muslims, particularly schoolgirls in some countries, who were “wearing visible religious symbols or traditional clothing were at times represented as being associated with terrorism or extremism,” the report added.

In some cases, Muslims also were subjected to discrimination in healthcare access, the publication said.

Israel launched a deadly military offensive against the Gaza Strip after an attack by the Hamas group on Oct. 7, 2023.

Nearly 37,400 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and more than 85,500 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.