MOSCOW, Oct. 23 (Sputnik) - At least 10 hospitals in the Gaza Strip have stopped working due to Israeli shelling and fuel shortages, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Sunday.

"The number of hospitals that have stopped operating due to shelling and fuel shortages has increased to 10," the ministry said.

The total number of medical institutions of all types that were subjected to Israeli shelling and stopped working because of this has reached 29, the ministry added.

On Friday, the ministry said that the total death toll from the Israeli strikes against the Gaza Strip had reached nearly 4,400 people, while over 14,200 others had been injured. On Sunday, the death toll exceeded 4,600 people.

Meanwhile, the number of people in the Gaza Strip who had to leave their homes due to the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has reached 1.5 million, which amounts to 70% of the Gazan population, the Hamas-affiliated government of the Gaza Strip said in a statement.

On October 7, Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise large-scale rocket attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip and breached the border, killing and seizing people in neighboring Israeli communities. Israel launched retaliatory strikes and ordered a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to more than 2 million people, cutting off supplies of water, food and fuel. The blockade was later eased to allow trucks with humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. The escalation of the conflict has resulted in thousands of people killed and injured on both sides.

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