The first case of the contagious virus polio was found in a baby in Gaza, the Palestinian health ministry said late on Friday as humanitarian agencies urged for a pause in fighting to implement a vaccine campaign.
The dense enclave - which has been polio free for 25 years - has been plunged into a humanitarian disaster from months of Israeli attacks which have pounded public services like water plants and sewage treatments.
Meanwhile, negotiators met in the Qatari capital Doha again on Friday to hammer out a Gaza ceasefire agreement as Israel continued to slam the Palestinian enclave.
US, Egyptian and Qatari officials said the talks were constructive and in a "positive manner" and said they would resume in the coming days in Cairo.
It came as so-called "safe zones" in the besieged enclave shrunk further, as Israeli forces ordered early on Friday the evacuation of Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis in central Gaza.
Gaza health officials reported separately on Thursday that more than 40,000 people had been killed after more than 10 months of Israel's war on the strip.
Israel continues to press its assault on Gaza. Gaza health officials said at least six Palestinians were killed on Thursday night in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Jabalia in the strip's north.
Israeli troops earlier hit targets in the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis.
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