GAZA: The United States said it was still working to secure a deal between Israel and Hamas after a reported tentative agreement to free women and children held hostage in Gaza in exchange for a pause in fighting, AFP reports.

“We have not reached a deal yet, but we continue to work hard to get to a deal,” White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said on X, formerly Twitter, in response to the Washington Post reporting a deal had been agreed.

Gaza’s largest hospital has become a “death zone,” the World Health Organisation has said, announcing plans to evacuate the facility.

The assessment came after a visit by WHO and other UN officials to the hospital, which Israeli troops raided earlier this week. It said the team found a mass grave at the entrance and nearly 300 patients left inside with 25 health workers.

“WHO and partners are urgently developing plans for the immediate evacuation of the remaining patients, staff and their families,” the body said, warning that nearby facilities were already overstretched. It urged an immediate ceasefire given the “extreme suffering of the people of Gaza.”