Pause in fighting continues across Gaza

By Nathan Morley

During this time, 26 Israeli hostages - all women and children - have been freed as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas. At the same time, 78 Palestinian prisoners have been released from Israeli jails over two days.

A third group of hostages are set for release sometime on Sunday, but the timings are not known.

On the ground, residents of Gaza have been using the pause to get desperately needed supplies of fuel, food and medicine. On Saturday, five airplanes carrying humanitarian aid landed in Egypt with 175 tons of aid from Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Qatar.

As it stands, at least 1.5 million people have been displaced in the Gaza Strip and are facing the danger of a substantial spread of infectious diseases, along with conditions including diarrhea and skin inflammation, and hygiene-related problems like lice and scabies.  

Over 75 percent of Gaza's population is now internally displaced, with around 890,000 displaced persons residing in 99 facilities in the central and southern parts of the region.

Elsewhere, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said that its patrol was hit by Israeli gunfire in a southern Lebanese village. The peacekeepers' vehicle was damaged, fortunately, no one was injured.

Israel's military operation started following Hamas's 7 October attack, when the group killed around 1,200 people and took more than 230 people as hostages.