The Slovenian parliament on Tuesday voted to approve the proposal of recognizing the statehood of Palestine, a move it said would hopefully help stop the violence in the Gaza Strip.

As many as 52 members of parliament out of 90 voted for the recognition, making Slovenia, currently a non-permanent member of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, the fourth European country after Spain, Norway and Ireland to make the decision.

"The Republic of Slovenia recognized Palestine as an independent sovereign state," Parliamentary Speaker Urska Klakocar Zupancic said after the vote.

"The recognition of a Palestine state enhances the reputation of Slovenia as a state that respects the international law and the UN resolutions and at the same time exerts pressure on both sides: on Israel to stop attacks on Gaza and on Hamas to release hostages," Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon told the parliament before the vote.

"We are working towards peace and the solution of two states," she added.

In central Gaza, the Israeli military said Tuesday that its troops backed by airstrikes have launched a ground operation into the Bureij refugee camp. Local hospital officials said a strike in the urban camp killed 11 Palestinians, including three children and a woman, AP reported.

The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 36,550, health authorities in the enclave said in a press statement on Tuesday.

During the past 24 hours, Israeli army killed 71 Palestinians and wounded 182 others, bringing the total injuries to 82,959 since the conflict broke out in October 2023.

In the southernmost Gazan city of Rafah, the Israeli army intensified its air and artillery raids on the eastern, central and western parts of the city, Xinhua reported, citing local sources and eyewitnesses.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Tuesday called for an end to the sharp rise in deadly violence in the West Bank, urging accountability for the killing of over 500 Palestinians by Israeli Security Forces (ISF) and settlers.

Reports from the UN Human Rights Office indicate that 505 Palestinians have lost their lives in violent clashes with Israel in the West Bank since October 7, 2023.

"It is unfathomable that so many lives have been taken in such a wanton fashion," the high commissioner said, highlighting that the fatality verification and monitoring of over 80 cases by the UN Human Rights Office indicated consistent violations of international human rights law on the use of force by the ISF, characterized by disproportionate use of lethal force and an increase of evident planned targeted killings.

Turk also mentioned that these findings showed the systematic denial or delay of medical assistance to those critically injured.

"The violence by the ISF and Israeli settlers, against the backdrop of the scale of killing and destruction continuing in Gaza, have instilled fear and insecurity among Palestinians in the occupied West Bank," he said.

Allegations of unlawful killings must be thoroughly and independently investigated and those responsible should be held to account, Turk stressed.

Meanwhile, Israel believes that more than a third of the remaining Gaza hostages are dead, a government tally showed on Tuesday. 

A government tally indicates that 120 individuals remain in captivity, 43 of whom have been declared dead in absentia based on various sources of information, including intelligence tips, CCTV footage and bystander videos, Reuters reported, adding that there have been speculations that the death toll could be higher.

(With input from agencies)