Death toll keeps on rising in Gaza, passes 40,000

A total of 40000 victims have so far been killed in Gaza according to the health officials in the territory.

The small, densely populated strip of land is now packed with bodies.

Those killed by the war are considered ritually pure under Islamic tradition, so their bodies are not washed, he said. Workers cover the damaged bodies in plastic to avoid bloodstains on their white shrouds.

Families gather to pray in the yard of the health unit, where the bodies wrapped in white clothes by al-Zuriei and his co-workers are put on the ground next to each other before being taken to the cemetery.

The Israeli Hamas war has now lasted 11 months and talks are now underway to reach a ceasefire.

The offensive has left a swath of destruction across the territory and driven the vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million people from their homes, often multiple times.

Diplomats hope it would persuade Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah to hold off on retaliating for the killing of a top Hezbollah commander in an Israeli- airstrike in Beirut and of Hamas' top political leader in an explosion in Tehran.

Successive evacuation orders and military operations have driven hundreds of thousands of people into a so-called humanitarian zone along the coast where they live in crowded tent camps with few services.

Aid groups have struggled to deliver food and supplies, prompting warnings of famine.