In this file photo taken Saturday, July 12, 2014, medics carry a 14-year-old Palestinian from Gaza into a hospital in el-Arish, 290 kilometers (180 miles) east of Cairo, Egypt (Photo: AP)
Sixteen Palestinians of the 154 being treated in Egypt from Isreali attacks on the Gaza Strip have died, Egypt's health minister has said.
In comments to the state news agency MENA on Monday, Adel El-Adawy said 122 of those allowed entry through Egypt's Rafah border crossing remain in hospitals in North Sinai, Cairo and the Suez Canal city of Ismailia. Sixteen of the cases have recovered and returned back to the Palestinian territory, he added.
Air and ground offensives by Israeli forces in the coastal enclave have killed almost 1,800 Palestinians, mostly civilians. More than a quarter of the impoverished enclave's 1.8 million residents have been displaced since Israel launched its campaign on 8 July.
Efforts are continuing with a Palestinian delegation in Cairo for talks with US and Egyptian officials, while Israel balked at sending negotiators after accusing Hamas of breaching a 72-hour truce moments after it began on Friday.
On Monday, Palestinians accused Israel of breaking its unilateral ceasefire by launching a bomb attack on a refugee camp in Gaza, killing an eight-year-old girl and wounding 29 other people.
The Rafah border crossing largely remains closed over security concerns in the border Sinai Peninsula, adjoining the coastal enclave and Israel, where the army is battling a growing Islamist insurgency. But authorities allowed the entry of Palestinians, intermittently opening the passage following the outbreak of the fighting in Gaza.
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