Tel Aviv/Rammalah, 16 August 2024 (dpa/MIA) — The number of people killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip has risen to more than 40,000, the Palestinian territory's Health Ministry said on Thursday.

More than 92,400 Palestinians have been injured since the war began in October 2023, the health authority, which is controlled by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, said.

The figures cannot be independently verified and do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

"Today marks a grim milestone for the world," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said, adding that most of the dead are women and children.

"This unimaginable situation is overwhelmingly due to recurring failures by the Israel Defense Forces to comply with the rules of war."

Türk said said that, on average, about 130 people have been killed every day in Gaza over the past 10 months.

He called the extent of the destruction of homes, hospitals, schools and places of worship by the Israeli military "deeply shocking."

The war began after the unprecedented massacre by Hamas and other extremist groups who killed more than 1,200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7. Around 250 people were taken hostage.

Israel's response, with massive airstrikes and a ground offensive, has been criticized given the number of civilian casualties and catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Türk said his office has recorded violations of international humanitarian law by both Israeli forces and armed Palestinian groups, including Hamas.

Violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians has also increased markedly since Oct. 7.

At least one person has died after dozens of Israeli settlers attacked a village in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Thursday.

Around 50 masked settlers stormed the Palestinian village of Jit, setting fire to at least four homes, the Times of Israel reported, citing an Israeli security official.

A 22-year-old Palestinian man was shot in the chest and killed, the health ministry said.

The Israel Defense Forces were investigating the death, military spokesman Daniel Hagari said.

Security forces had arrested an Israeli citizen, Hagari said.

"The IDF condemns events of this type as well as the rioters, who harm security, law and order, and divert the IDF and the security forces from their main mission of thwarting terrorism and protecting the security of the residents," he said.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was taking the attack seriously.

"Those responsible for any criminal act will be caught and prosecuted."

The situation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has worsened significantly since the start of the current conflict in Gaza.

More than 600 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank in Israeli military operations since then, confrontations or their own attacks in the West Bank, according to the Health Ministry.