Martyrs' toll in Gaza rises to 4,385 including 1,756 children

GAZA, Palestine (AFP) - At least 4,385 people have been martyred in the Gaza Strip since Israel began bombarding the Palestinian enclave, including 1,756 children, the Hamas-controlled health ministry said on Saturday.

The ministry said another 13,561 people had been wounded in the Israeli strikes, which began on October 7.

Hamas militants killed at least 1,400 Israelis who were shot, mutilated or burnt to death on the first day of the raid, and took more than 200 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

Israel says around 1,500 Hamas fighters were martyred in clashes before its army regained control of the area under attack. Israel has bombed Gaza, martyring thousands and cutting food, water, electricity and fuel supplies to the densely populated and long-blockaded territory of 2.4 million people, sparking fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.

Israeli troops are massed on the Gaza border ahead of an expected ground invasion that officials have pledged will begin "soon".

As international tensions soar, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was hosting a peace summit in Cairo on Saturday attended by regional and some Western leaders.

"The time has come for action to end this godawful nightmare," Guterres told the summit, calling for a "humanitarian ceasefire". The region "is reeling in pain and one step from the precipice", he added.

Egypt, historically a key mediator between Hamas and Israel, has urged "restraint" and called to restart long-frozen peace talks.

But diplomatic efforts to end the violence have made little headway, with Israel and its enemy Iran, a supporter of Hamas and other armed groups, among those absent from the Cairo talks.