Palestine requested the extraordinary session amid the escalating famine threatening the enclave's two million people.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch, said on Tuesday he and church leaders had returned from a visit to Gaza with "broken hearts", calling the spiralling humanitarian crisis there "morally unacceptable".

A six-week-old infant was among 15 people who have died of starvation in Gaza in the past 24 hours, local health officials said, with malnutrition now

A six-week-old infant and three other children have died of starvation in Gaza in the past 24 hours, local health officials said, with malnutrition and starvation now killing Palestinians faster than at any point in the 21-month war.

The head of the agency that helps oversee international aid deliveries to the territory has criticized the impact of Israeli policy on civilians.

Razan was one of at least four children to succumb in the last three days, the youngest just three months. Over the past 24 hours, 18 deaths have been recorded due to famine in Gaza, the health ministry says, reflecting a deepening crisis in the territory.

Twenty-five countries have issued a joint statement demanding an end to the Gaza war, urging Israel to comply with international law. The statement highlights the humanitarian crisis faced by Gazans,