CAIRO, July 1. /TASS/. Several hundred children in Gaza have caught meningitis in recent days, Hamas said.

"Meningitis incidence among children in Gaza is on the rise, with hundreds of such cases being registered in recent days. The disease outbreak poses a risk of another humanitarian catastrophe amid the total collapse of the healthcare system in the enclave," the movement wrote on its Telegram channel and called on the World Health Organization to "immediately step in and save the lives of Palestinian children" in Gaza.

On March 2, Israel suspended humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and closed all checkpoints, citing Hamas’s refusal to accept US Special Presidential Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff’s plan to continue Gaza ceasefire talks. A week later, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen ordered to cut power supplies to the Gaza Strip, and on March 18, Israel resumed hostilities in the enclave after a two-month lull.