GAZA -- The Palestinian death toll due to the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has climbed to 31,272, reported the Gaza-based Health Ministry on Wednesday.

Within the past 24 hours, the Israeli army killed 88 Palestinians and injured 135 others, pushing the total death toll to 31,272 and injuries to 73,024 since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict last October, the ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini condemned the loss of a large number of children as a result of the conflict.

"Staggering. The number of children reported killed in just over four months in Gaza is higher than the number of children killed in four years of wars around the world combined," he said in a statement. "This war is a war on children. It is a war on their childhood and their future."

Israel has been launching a large-scale offensive against Hamas in Gaza to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 were taken hostage.