Geneva, Oct. 27: A World Health Organisation official said on Friday the agency had received estimates that some 1000 unidentified bodies are still buried under the rubbbel in Gaza which are not yet included in death tolls.

“We also get these estimates that there are still 1000 plus people under the rubble which have not been identified yet,” Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Representative for the occupied Palestinian territory, said in response to a question about the death toll in Gaza. He did not specify the source.

Gaza health authorities say that more than 7000 people have been killed by Israeli bombardments in response to deadly cross-border attacks on Israel by Hamas gunmen on October 7.

Israeli troops have struck reeateddly into the outskirts of Gaza City, the military said Friday, as it prepares for a widely expected ground invasion of the Hamas-ruled territory.

US warplanes, meanwhile, struck targets in eastern Syria that the Pentagon said were linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard after a string of attacks on American forces, and two mysterious objects hit towns in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, adding to the already high tensions fuelled by the three-week-old Gaza war.

More than 1400 people in Israel, mostly civilians, were slain during the initial Hamas attack on October 7, according to the Israeli government. Hamas is holding at least 229 captives inside Gaza, including men, women, children and older adults.

The airstrikes have flattened entire neighbourhoods, causing a level of death and destruction unseen in the last four wars between Israel and Hamas. More than a million people have fled their homes, with many heeding Israeli orders to evacuate to the south, despite continuing Israeli strikes across the sealed-off territory.

The humanitarian crisis sparked by the war and the Israeli siege has sparked protests across the region, and more demonstrations were expected later Friday after weekly Muslim prayers.

The military said ground forces raided inside Gaza, striking dozens of militant targets over the past 24 hours. It said aircraft and artillery bombed targets in Shijaiyah, a neighborhood on Gaza City’s outskirts that was the scene of an urban battle in the 2014 Gaza war.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin defended a decision to invite a Hamas delegation to Moscow which has prompted Israeli anger.

The Kremlin said Russia “believes it is necessary” to maintain contacts with all sides in the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the delegation had met with representatives of Russia’s foreign ministry but had had no contacts with the Kremlin.

Israel urged Russia on Thursday to expel the visiting Hamas delegation, calling their invitation to Moscow “deplorable”.-Agencies