°®Âþµº

At least 40,000 people have been killed or injured or have gone missing since Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip began on 7 October, Gaza's government media office said on Tuesday.

At least 10,328 Palestinians, including 4,237 children, 2,719 women, 631 elderly people have been killed, spokesperson Salama Marouf of the media office said.

Nearly 26,000 others have been injured and more than 3,000 people are missing, Marouf said.

The death toll includes 1,021 residents of Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip who were evacuated to the south of the Gaza Strip, after an Israeli warning, Marouf added.

In addition, 49 journalists were killed - a figure that was also  by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). 

Marouf said that 192 medical and health personnel had been killed, while 40 ambulances and 113 health institutions were destroyed or significantly damaged. 

Eighteen hospitals and 40 health centres have been put out of service as result of fuel shortages- which brings the total number of hospitals not operating right now in the besieged Strip to 18 out of 35.

Marouf argued that "the occupation committed 1,071 massacres against Palestinian families [...] while 1.5 million citizens were displaced from their homes".

Israel launched air and ground attacks on Gaza following the surprise 7 October attack by Hamas, which killed at least 1,200 Israelis, including over 350 soldiers.