Cairo, Apr 29 (IANS/DPA): Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said that Palestinian civilians living in Gaza were suffering a "collective punishment" from Israel's retaliatory military campaign for the attacks launched by Hamas on October 7.

"What has taken place, all Palestinians in Gaza have to pay for it," Madbouly said.

Israel's response to the massacre that left over 1,200 people dead and hundreds more taken hostage "was unbelievable," he said at a conference organised by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Riyadh on Monday.

More than 80 per cent of the health facilities in Gaza have been destroyed, he said, while an "estimated 7,000 [people] remain under the rubble."

The Prime Minister said that it would take "decades" for Gaza to recover.

On Sunday, the Hamas-controlled health authority put the number of people killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war at 34,454. The figures it publishes make no distinction between civilians and militants and are almost impossible to verify independently.

The WEF conference underway in Saudi Arabia's capital is focusing on topics including health, the environment and finance. Several Western and Arab foreign ministers were due to meet on the fringes of the conference to discuss the Gaza war.