The al-Hol camp is the largest of two in northeastern Syria holding the families of Islamic State fighters.

Run by US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), its population spiked at more than 70,000 as the coalition began tightening its grip on the last IS holdout in Baghouz late in 2018.

Iraqis have always been "the dominant nationality" in the camp, with their numbers at one time reaching 30,000, according to Doctors Without Borders.

At its height, 11,000 "foreign" women and children -- that is non-Syrian or Iraqi -- were held there.

Ali is 12 and has survived things no child should see, spending half his life in what amounts to a prison camp for jihadist families in an arid corner of northeastern Syria.

He knows not to dream of freedom. Instead he fantasises about having a football. "Can you get me one?" he said, as if he was asking for the Moon.

Palestinians "need the bombs to stop," Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Sunday as he made an impassioned plea for a ceasefire in Gaza, speaking during a St Patrick's Day reception at the White House.

US President Joe Biden has been hosting Varadkar in Washington for an annual visit celebrating the close ties between the United States and Ireland, as 10 percent of Americans claim ancestral roots there.

Visiting United Nations special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen urged Damascus Sunday to rejoin talks to revise the country's constitution, warning that political dialogue was going "in the wrong direction".

Syria's war, which began 13 years ago with the repression of pro-democracy protests, has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions and ravaged the country's economy, infrastructure and industry.

The European Union and Egypt on Sunday signed a 7.4-billion-euro financial package to support the indebted north African country, boost energy sales to Europe and stem irregular migrant flows.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was joined in Cairo by the leaders of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece and Italy for the signing ceremony with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israeli troops would pursue a planned ground offensive in southern Gaza's Rafah that has spurred fears of mass civilian casualties.

"No amount of international pressure will stop us from realising all the goals of the war: eliminating Hamas, releasing all our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel," Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting in a video released by his office.

"To do this, we will also operate in Rafah."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Sunday that civilians crammed into the southern Gaza Strip would be able to leave before troops enter in pursuit of Hamas militants.

His comments, alongside visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, follow international fears over the fate of the roughly 1.5 million people sheltering in Rafah, most of them displaced by Gaza's war.

Displaced by Israeli bombardment, the Tabatibi family gathered in central Gaza to eat together during the first Friday night of Ramadan, a reunion that soon turned into a bloodbath.

An air strike hit the building where they were staying as women prepared the pre-fasting meal, killing 36 members of the family, witnesses told AFP on Saturday.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which provided the same death toll, blamed Israel for the strike in Nuseirat, as did survivors.

A major fire in Cairo destroyed one of the Arab world's most prestigious and oldest film production houses, founded 80 years ago, an AFP journalist said.

Flames overtook the Al-Ahram Studio in Cairo's Giza district, burning everything inside and spreading to three surrounding buildings which were evacuated before the blaze reached them.

Residents of the neighbouring buildings were still sleeping on the ground in nearby streets at dawn on Saturday, the AFP journalist reported.

A second ship loaded with aid for Gaza could depart as early as Saturday, Cyprus said, as the first vessel returned from the war-ravaged territory after successfully delivering its cargo.

The Jennifer was set "to depart for Gaza today or tomorrow," foreign ministry spokesperson Theodoros Gotsis told state radio.

US charity World Central Kitchen said the Jennifer had been loaded with 240 tonnes of food but that rough weather made it hard to predict when it would set sail for Gaza or when the first vessel, the Open Arms, might make a return trip.