GAZA’S death toll climbed past 40,000 today as international mediators held a new round of talks on a ceasefire and the release of hostages.

In its most recent detailed report on the dead, Gaza’s Health Ministry said that of the 40,005 Palestinians reported killed, nearly 16,500 were children.

Israel’s war has also left 92,401 people wounded and made refugees of over 85 per cent of the enclave’s 2.2 million population.

Civil defence workers say that the true death toll is likely thousands higher as many bodies remain buried under rubble.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt met an Israeli delegation today, but Gaza’s Hamas administration did not directly take part after accusing Israel of adding new demands to a previous proposal that had international support — both sides had agreed in principle to the original plan announced by US President Joe Biden on May 31.

A ceasefire is vital to end the 10-month-long bloodshed, which has spread to further parts of the region such as Iran, Yemen and Lebanon.

But Hamas has rejected Israel’s latest demands, which include a lasting military presence at the border with Egypt and a line bisecting Gaza where it would search Palestinians returning to their homes.

Deir al-Balah resident Abu Nidal Eweini told the Associated Press: “Oh Lord, we hope they reach an agreement and the war ends, because the population has been annihilated completely. People have no breath left in them any more. People are tired.”

Riyad Hasan, who was displaced from Gaza City, said people want to return to their homes.

“We are people who want to live,” he said. “Let them accept the deal and end this. Find a solution for us.”

Amna Abu Hajaier, who is living in a tent, said one of her sons was killed and another is missing.

“We have suffered a lot,” she said. “We hope that someone will stand with us and support us and care for us a bit. The Palestinian people have been destroyed.”

United Nations high commissioner for human rights Volker Turk said the latest number of dead in Gaza “marks a grim milestone for the world.”

In a damning statement he said: “This unimaginable situation is overwhelmingly due to recurring failures by the Israeli Defence Forces to comply with the rules of war.”

Gaza’s most vulnerable have been worst hit by the bloodshed, with the World Health Organisation saying today that some 11 children with cancer were evacuated from the territory for medical treatment.

One of the children being transferred, two-year-old Mecca Zorab, has already undergone three operations in war-ravaged Gaza since a tumour was found in her head three months ago.

Her mother Fatima was unable to accompany her as she had another infant child to care for and said goodbye to Mecca as she lay on a stretcher in an ambulance with a breathing tube.

She said the child’s grandmother will go with her instead; Israel allows each patient to be accompanied by a female escort vetted by security services, who can bring a small bag of clothes, one mobile phone and a charger.

Most hospitals in Gaza have shut down after running out of fuel or supplies, or following attacks by Israeli forces.

The Health Ministry says some 28,000 patients are in need of medical treatment outside Gaza.