GAZA, October 7 (Reuters) -Two years of Israeli bombardment of Gaza has piled grief upon grief for displaced Palestinian Inas Abu Maamar.

In the first days of the war, a Reuters photograph showed Abu Maamar stricken in a hospital morgue, cradling the shrouded body of her five-year-old niece Saly.

Since then, Israeli airstrikes and tank shells have killed many of her close relatives and left her bereaved, hungry and homeless, caring for her orphaned young nephew.

GENEVA (Reuters) -Israel's offensive in Gaza, launched in response to the Palestinian militant group Hamas's attack on southern Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and laid waste to swathes of territory.

Below is a summary of the extent of the death and damage during the Gaza war, with much of the data drawn from reports released by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

DEATHS IN GAZA

US President Donald Trump voiced optimism that there was a "real chance" to end the war in Gaza, as Israel remembered victims of the October 7 attacks two years ago on Tuesday.

In his message marking the anniversary, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to achieve all the goals of the war, including crushing the Palestinian militant group Hamas which waged the attacks.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -A crew member of the Dutch cargo ship that was attacked by Houthis in the Gulf of Aden last week has died of his injuries, the vessel's Amsterdam-based operator Spliethoff said in a statement Monday evening.

The company did not release further details about the deceased crew member, but a spokesperson told a Dutch broadcaster they were Filipino.

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday will meet Edan Alexander, who was believed to be the last surviving U.S. hostage held by Palestinian militants in Gaza when the Israeli-American was handed over by Hamas in May, the White House said on Monday.

Israel marks the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attack on Tuesday, as Hamas and Israeli negotiators hold indirect talks to end the two-year war in Gaza under a US proposed peace plan.

Two years ago to the day, at the close of the Jewish festival of Sukkot, Hamas-led militants launched a surprise assault on Israel, making it the deadliest day in the country's history.

Palestinian fighters breached the Gaza-Israel border, storming southern Israeli communities and a desert music festival with gunfire, rockets and grenades.

Thousands of students protested in London and other UK cities on Tuesday, defying a plea from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to skip demonstrations on the second anniversary of Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.

Chanting "Free Palestine", students from several London universities walked out of classes at 2:00 pm (1300 GMT) to march through the centre of the British capital.

Rallies or events including vigils were also held in other UK cities, including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Sheffield and Manchester.

By Lucy Craymer

WELLINGTON (Reuters) -A man has been charged after a window of the New Zealand Foreign Minister’s home was smashed with a crowbar Monday and a note pinned to his front door that said "welcome to the real world", the Minister's spokesperson said on Tuesday.

The glass smashed all over Foreign Minister Winston Peters' dog, who was sleeping below the window, he added.

UNESCO executives voted Monday to make an Egyptian ex-antiquities minister the UN culture body's next leader, as it grapples with accusations of pro-Israel bias that prompted the United States to say it would quit the organisation.

The board voted to appoint Khaled el-Enany, Egypt's former antiquities and tourism minister, to replace French director-general Audrey Azoulay after her two four-year terms in office.

By John Irish

PARIS (Reuters) -The United Nations' cultural agency selected former Egyptian tourism and antiquities minister Khaled El-Enany as its new chief on Monday, handing him the keys to revive UNESCO's fortunes after the U.S. withdrew from it for a second time.

El-Enany, 54, was up against Édouard Firmin Matoko, 69, of Republic of Congo, but had been the favourite to win the secret ballot for a four-year term, having launched his campaign early in April 2023.

He had since built strong regional backing and international alliances.