At least 500 children and 276 women among 1,572 killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza

Some 500 children and 276 women are among the 1,572 killed in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian health ministry said early on Friday.

The ministry has also reported 7,262 wounded since last Saturday.

Earlier on Saturday, the director of al-Shifa Hospital in the strip told Al Arabiya that more than 50 percent of those killed by Israeli strikes on the strip are women and children.

“The health care system in Gaza has collapsed,” he said, adding that the hospital can no longer receive any more wounded people.

He also warned that a power outage will lead to several deaths and called for opening safe passages to deliver medical supplies.

Meanwhile, Fabrizio Carboni, a senior official with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the humanitarian situation in Gaza will become “unmanageable very quickly.”

His comments came as Israel pounded the Hamas-ruled territory, home to 2.3 million people, following Hamas’s attack on Israel on Saturday that killed more than 1,200 people. In Gaza, officials have reported more than 1,200 people killed in Israeli retaliatory strikes.

In recent days Israel announced a “complete siege” on Gaza, cutting off water, fuel and electricity supplies. The Palestinian territory’s sole power plant shut down on Wednesday after running out of fuel.