At least 6,546 Palestinians, including 2,704 children and 1,584 women, have now been confirmed killed in the indiscriminate Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip. the Health Ministry said Wednesday.

"The fatalities included 2,704 children, 1,584 women, and 364 elders," the ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra told a press conference in Gaza City.

He said 17,439 other people were injured in the assaults, while 1,600 people remained trapped under the rubble, including 900 children.

The spokesperson said 73 medics were killed and 25 ambulances were destroyed in the Israeli attacks.

"Gaza's health care system went out of service" amid relentless attacks and critical shortages, al-Qudra said.

Tensions escalated across the region amid relentless Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip following the Oct. 7 surprise incursion by Palestinian resistance group Hamas into Israeli territory.

Gaza's 2.3 million people have been running out of food, water, medicines and fuel, and aid convoys allowed into Gaza have carried only a fraction of what is needed.