In a sign of the worsening humanitarian crisis in the narrow coastal territory, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said at least 16 children had died of malnutrition in recent days as "famine spreads" in the north.
3rd March 2024 01:19 PM 
The Head of Catholic Church, Pope Francis, during his weekly Angelus prayer, called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and throughout the region.
Pope also noted that that disarmament in Gaza was nessesary for the world, stressing that it is a moral duty".
Francis' address comes as Egypt on Sunday hosted envoys for talks on a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, with heavy fighting ongoing in the nearly five-month-old war.
The delegation from the Palestinian group was reported to have discussed a proposal for a six-week truce, after a United States said Israel had broadly accepted its terms.
Egyptian state-linked media reported that envoys from the United States, Qatar and Hamas arrived in Cairo, as all sides scrambled to lock in a truce before the Muslim fasting month that begins on March 10 or 11.
The health ministry in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip said at least 90 Palestinians had been killed in the past 24 hours, including 14 family members whose house in the southern Rafah refugee camp had been hit.
