Israel and Hamas have agreed to pause fighting for an additional 48 hours after mediators secured a deal for both sides to release more captives. On Monday, the Red Cross said it facilitated the release and transfer of 11 Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Their release came as Israel freed three Palestinian women and 30 children from Israeli prisons. It was the fourth exchange since the Gaza truce came into effect last week. Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7 have killed about 15,000 people — more than 6,000 of them children. The World Health Organization warns more Palestinians could soon die of preventable diseases than of Israel’s bombardment unless Gaza’s health system is rapidly repaired. On Monday, British Palestinian surgeon Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah spoke about his experiences in Gaza hospitals.

Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah: “One of the most horrific scenes that I witnessed in Shifa Hospital was when, after the air raid and the dead and the wounded were brought in, members of the Shifa medical staff and nursing staff would be running frantically in the emergency department looking at the faces of the wounded and the dead to see whether their relatives had been amongst the wounded, and in many cases their children had been amongst the dead and the wounded.”