41,788 Palestinians killed in Gaza offensive since Oct. 7, health ministry says

CAIRO (Reuters) - Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 41,788 Palestinians and wounded 96,794 since Oct. 7, the Palestinian enclave's health ministry said on Thursday.

Ninety-nine Palestinians have been killed and 169 wounded in the past 24 hours, the ministry said in a statement.

Medics said scores of people were killed a day before in an Israeli strike that hit a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City, while another struck the Al-Amal Orphan Society, which also houses displaced persons.

As the war in Gaza triggered by the cross-border Hamas attack on Israel nears its first anniversary on Oct. 7, there has been no let-up in Israeli military operations against the Palestinian Islamist group. The enclave has been left in ruins.

(Reporting by Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Clauda Tanios; editing by Mark Heinrich)