More than 40,000 killed in Gaza since 7 October, Hamas health ministry says

Around 92,401 Palestinians have also been injured since Israel began its offensive in October last year

Palestinians inspect the damage done to a school after an Israeli strike left scores dead last week (REUTERS)

More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel and Hamas began fighting last year, the territory’s Hamas-ran health ministry said.

Israel’s offensive has also wounded 92,401 people and displaced over 85 per cent of the population from their homes, the ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said.

It does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its toll. The announcement came during yet another push from international mediators to broker a cease-fire in the war, now in its 11th month.

The conflict began on 7 October after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people — most of them civilians — and dragging roughly 250 hostages to Gaza.

It comes as international mediators were set to hold a new round of talks Thursday aimed at halting the conflict.

Over 85 per cent of Gaza’s population has been displaced since Israel’s offensive began last October (AP)

The United States, Qatar and Egypt were to meet with an Israeli delegation in Qatar. Hamas has not said whether it will participate, accusing Israel of adding new demands to the agreement.

The mediators have spent months trying to hammer out a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release scores of hostages captured in the 7 October attack in exchange for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Both sides have agreed in principle to the plan, which President Joe Biden announced on 31 May. But Hamas has proposed “amendments” and Israel has suggested “clarifications,” leading each side to accuse the other of making new demands it cannot accept.

Hamas has rejected Israel’s latest demands, which include a lasting military presence along the border with Egypt and a line bisecting Gaza where it would search Palestinians returning to their homes to root out militants.

Meanwhile, the US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said last week that navy cruisers and destroyers – which can shoot down ballistic missiles – as well as fighter jets, would be deployed to the region to support Israel.

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said last week that navy cruisers were sent to the region. Pictured: USS Abraham Lincoln (US NAVY/AFP via Getty Images)

It comes after Iran vowed to exact “harsh punishment” on Israel following the suspected assassination of Hamas’s chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in a blast in Tehran on Thursday.

The death of the 62-year-old came just hours after Israel claimed it had killed top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in an airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, in the same week.

Gaza’s Hamas and Hezbollah (which controls southern Lebanon) form part of Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance” – which opposes Western and Israeli influence in the region.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for Haniyeh’s death, but officials have previously warned they would target all Hamas leaders responsible for the 7 October attack on southern Israel that triggered Israel’s war in Gaza.