Palestinian death toll in Gaza surpasses 11,500

GAZA, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- More than 40 wounded Palestinians, including five newborns, died in the Al-Shifa hospital in the past hours under the siege and strikes by Israeli forces, said the Hamas-run Health Ministry on Tuesday.

That pushed the death toll of Palestinians from Israeli attacks in the enclave since the start of the conflict to more than 11,500, while over 29,000 others were injured, according to the ministry and Gaza's government media office.

The media office said in a press statement that "dozens of dead bodies can be seen lying on the streets as ambulances have stopped operating amid intensified field battles between the Israeli forces and Palestinian militants."

Ismail al-Thawabta, the director general of the media office, said it is estimated that more than 100 dead bodies were scattered outside the Al-Shifa Medical Complex as neither their relatives nor medical teams could reach the medical complex to take them back for burial.

In a statement sent to Xinhua, Undersecretary of the Hamas-run Health Ministry Yousef Abu Rish said more than 120 slain Palestinians were buried at a mass grave in the courtyard of the Al-Shifa hospital to prevent "the spread of epidemics among health staff and the displaced."

He warned the medical complex could turn into "a real cemetery as no ambulances have been able to enter or leave the site" since Friday night under the comprehensive "siege" and artillery shelling and shooting from the Israeli army.

The Israeli military operations came in retaliation for the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, in which Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.