Gaza death toll exceeds 33,500 as Israeli attacks continue

A total of 33,545 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since last October, the Health Ministry in the besieged enclave said on Thursday.

The Gaza-based Health Ministry made the statement as the Israeli deadly onslaught on Gaza entered its 188th day.

The ongoing offensive has also injured 76,094 Palestinians, it added.

The ministry's statement said: "63 martyrs and 45 injuries arrived at (Gaza) hospitals in the past 24 hours as a result of the Israeli occupation aggression on the Gaza Strip,"

"Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads and rescuers are unable to reach them," it added.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

Hostilities have continued unabated, however, and aid deliveries remain woefully insufficient to address the humanitarian catastrophe.