The Health Ministry affiliated to Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, announced that 15,899 people, 70 per cent of whom are women and under the age of 18, have died since the war began on 7 October.

Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Kidreh said that 42,000 people were wounded in Israel's military operations in Gaza.

On the other hand, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office announced that the bodies of 15 Israelis, including 11 civilians and four soldiers, have been found in the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip since 7 October.

Four soldiers, including a senior military officer, were killed in an attack that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in Israel's border area with the northern Gaza Strip.