As malnutrition surges in war-torn Gaza, tens of thousands of children and women require urgent treatment, according to the UN, while aid enters the blockaded Palestinian territory at a trickle.

Gaza's civil defence agency told AFP it has noted a rising number of infant deaths caused by "severe hunger and malnutrition", reporting at least three such deaths in the past week.

"These heartbreaking cases were not caused by direct bombing but by starvation, the lack of baby formula and the absence of basic healthcare," civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

Iran confirmed fresh talks with European powers to be held on Friday in Istanbul, the country's state media reported, the first since the United States attacked Iranian nuclear facilities a month ago.

Iranian diplomats will meet counterparts from Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, after the trio warned that sanctions could be reimposed on Tehran if it does return to the negotiating table over its nuclear programme.

Western nations and Israel have long accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has consistently denied.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would help Afghans detained in the United Arab Emirates for years after fleeing their country when its Taliban leaders extended control over it.

Trump, a Republican who has criticized high levels of immigration, suspended refugee resettlement after he took office in January. In April, the Trump administration terminated temporary deportation protections for thousands of Afghans in the U.S.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces opened fire on crowds of Palestinians trying to collect humanitarian aid in the war-torn Palestinian territory on Sunday, killing 93 people and wounding dozens more.

Eighty were killed as truckloads of aid arrived in the north, while nine others were reported shot near an aid point close to Rafah in the south, where dozens of people lost their lives just 24 hours earlier.

Four were killed near another aid site in Khan Yunis, also in the south, agency spokesman Mahmud Basal told AFP.

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (Reuters) -Pope Leo called for an end to the 'barbarity of war' on Sunday as he spoke of his profound pain over an Israeli strike on the sole Catholic church in Gaza.

Three people died and several were injured, including the parish priest, in the strike on the Holy Family Church compound in Gaza City on Thursday. Photos show its roof has been hit close to the main cross, scorching the stone facade, and shattering windows.

Speaking after his Angelus prayer, Leo read out the names of those killed in the incident.

Calm returned to southern Syria's Sweida province on Sunday, a monitor and AFP correspondents reported, after a week of sectarian violence between Druze fighters and rival groups that killed more than 1,100 people.

A ceasefire announced on Saturday appeared to be holding after earlier agreements failed to end fighting between longtime rivals the Druze and the Bedouin that spiralled to draw in the Islamist-led government, the Israeli military and armed tribes from other parts of Syria.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) -The Israeli military issued evacuation orders on Sunday in areas of central Gaza packed with displaced Palestinians where it hasn't operated so far in its war with Hamas, while medics said at least 30 people were killed waiting for aid as hunger mounts.

The military evacuation demand, which could signal an imminent attack on neighbourhoods in Deir al-Balah, alarmed the families of Israeli hostages, who fear their relatives are being held there.

DAMASCUS (Reuters) -Residents reported calm in the Syrian city of Sweida on Sunday after the Islamist-led government declared that Bedouin fighters had withdrawn from the predominantly Druze city and the United States stepped up calls for an end to fighting.

There was no sound of gunfire on Sunday morning, according to a resident speaking from the city outskirts, while a Druze source in the region said there was calm in most areas.

NICOSIA (Reuters) -Greek and Turkish Cypriots on Sunday marked the 51st anniversary of Turkey's 1974 invasion of Cyprus, an event that split the island and continues to shape geopolitics in the region.

Air raid sirens wailed across the southern Greek Cypriot populated parts of Cyprus at 0530 local time (0230 GMT), the hour Turkish troops landed on the northern coast in a military intervention triggered by a brief Greece-inspired coup.

Sudan's Prime Minister Kamil Idris on Saturday pledged to rebuild Khartoum, ravaged by more than two years of war, as he made his first visit to the capital since assuming office in May.

Touring Khartoum's destroyed infrastructure earlier, the new premier outlined mass repair projects in anticipation of the return of at least some of the over 3.5 million people who fled the violence.

"Khartoum will return as a proud national capital," Idris said, according to Sudan's state news agency.