Gaza, 15 October 2023 (dpa/MIA) - At least 2,329 people in Gaza have been killed since the attacks last week launched by the Islamist Hamas that rules the coastal strip, the Gaza Health Ministry says.

More than 9,000 people have been injured.

Islamist organization Hamas launched thousands of rockets toward Israel while hundreds of its fighters breached border defences in an unprecedented attack last weekend that left more than 1,300 dead.

Israel responded by launching retaliatory airstrikes on the coastal enclave, and signs are mounting that a ground offensive is imminent.

The death toll means that more Palestinians have died within a week than during the 2014 Gaza war, when 2,250 people died in the coastal strip within 50 days.

That period saw 66 Israeli soldiers and five civilians die, too.

The latest fighting has also led to the highest number of deaths since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.

Photo: MIA Archive