Gaza health ministry says Palestinian death toll is greater than 10,000

Fire and smoke rises from buildings following Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City (Abded Khaled/AP)

The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza says the Palestinian death toll from the ongoing war with Israel has jumped over 10,000.

The figures released Monday mark a grim milestone in what has quickly become the deadliest round of fighting since Israel’s establishment 75 years ago.

The war erupted on October 7 when Hamas militants stormed into Israel from Gaza and killed over 1,400 people and took some 240 others hostage in a rampage that Israel described as the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust.

Palestinians inspect the damage of a destroyed house (Mohammed Alaswad/AP)

Israel responded with a campaign of blistering airstrikes, followed by a ground invasion.

The health ministry says 10,022 people have been killed in Gaza, without distinguishing between fighters and civilians.

The vast majority of the dead are believed to have been killed in Israeli airstrikes, though Israel says over 500 errant rockets launched by Palestinian militants have landed inside Gaza.