THE HEALTH MINISTRY in Gaza has said more than 70,000 people have been killed since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted more than two years ago.

The milestone comes as a fragile US-brokered ceasefire largely holds, but with both sides accusing the other of violating the terms of the deal.

In a statement, Gaza’s health ministry said the death toll from the war had risen to 70,100.

The ministry said that since the ceasefire came into effect on 10 October, some 354 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces.

Two bodies arrived at hospitals in the Gaza Strip in the past 48 hours, the ministry said, one of which had been recovered from beneath the rubble.

It noted that the spike from the last death toll was due to the fact that the data relating to 299 bodies had been processed and approved by the authorities.

Despite the ceasefire, the Palestinian territory remains in a deep humanitarian crisis.

Hamas has released all the living hostages and returned the remains of 26 dead hostages.

In exchange, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in its custody and returned the bodies of hundreds of dead Palestinians.