Diplomatic aid efforts ramp up for 'strangled' Gaza as regional conflict fears grow

Gaza is being "strangled" by Israel's week-long siege and aerial bombardment, UN experts have warned, as concerns grow that further escalation and a lack of safety for fleeing civilians risks drawing regional foes into the long-running conflict.

The Israeli military launched a barrage of airstrikes and a complete blockade on the Palestinian enclave in response to Hamas' large-scale deadly incursion on October 7, which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said left at least 1,400 people killed and scores taken hostage.

In over a week of Israeli bombardment, at least 2,808 people, including hundreds of children, have been killed, and more than 11,000 wounded, the Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said on Monday, according to the official Palestinian press agency, WAFA. In the occupied West Bank, 58 people have been killed and more than 1,250 injured, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said.

Casualties in Gaza over the past eight days have now surpassed the number of those killed during the 51-day Gaza-Israel conflict in 2014.

Human rights groups have said Israel's complete siege on essential goods entering Gaza is in violation of international law, as Palestinian civilians warn food, water and fuel supplies are running out.

US President Joe Biden called Hamas' rampage in Israel "the worst massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust."

Hamas is believed to be holding 199 Israeli and foreign nationals hostage in Gaza, the IDF's spokesperson Rear Adm. Dan Hagari said on Monday.