Israel-Gaza updates: IDF says 2 hostages rescued from Gaza

The U.S. House failed to pass a $17.6 billion standalone bill to provide aid to Israel.

The bill failed 250-180 during a vote Tuesday evening.

The GOP measure was being considered under suspension, which required a two-thirds majority to pass.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who unveiled the standalone bill over the weekend, blamed President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for its failure.

"The decision by President Biden and Leader Schumer to torpedo this bill to aid the Israeli people in their fight against Hamas is a disappointing rebuke to our closest ally in the Middle East at their time of great need," Johnson said in a statement following the vote.

The Biden administration had issued a veto threat to the bill on Monday, saying it "strongly opposes" the measure after a bipartisan group of senators came to an agreement on a national security supplemental that includes Israel aid.

Schumer said he was against the bill and wanted Israel aid coupled with aid for Ukraine, Taiwan and the border.

-ABC News' John Parkinson and Lauren Peller

Hamas has formally responded to the proposed framework for a deal exchanging hostages remaining in Gaza for an extended cease-fire, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said Tuesday during a press conference with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

"The reply includes some comments, but in general it is positive," he said via a translator. "However, given the sensitivity of the circumstances we will not tackle details. We are optimistic and we have delivered the response to the Israeli party."

Hamas in a statement did not say they had agreed to the deal but said they "dealt with" the proposed hostage deal "with a positive spirit."

However, after receiving the response from Hamas, Israeli officials indicated a deal is still "far off," according to Israeli political sources.

While Blinken didn’t express the same level of optimism as the Qatari prime minister, he maintained that a hostage deal was within reach, saying now that they had a response from Hamas, negotiators would be "intensely focused on that."

"We’re reviewing that response now, and I’ll be discussing it with the government of Israel tomorrow,” Blinken said. "There is still a lot of work to be done, but we continue to believe that an agreement is possible and indeed, essential, and we will continue to work relentlessly to achieve it."

When asked about the amount of time it took for Hamas to deliver an answer, the Qatari prime minister said "communication was presenting some challenges" and that "it took some time to get them to a place where we get that response," adding, "we are hoping to see it yielding very soon."

-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford

The bodies of 31 hostages remain in Gaza, according to Israeli sources. The 31 hostages either died while being held captive by Hamas or were killed on Oct. 7, the sources said.

-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss Israel's ongoing war in the neighboring Gaza Strip.

Their "meeting focused on developments in unyielding efforts aimed at reaching a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, exchanging detainees and providing access of needed relief aid to end the severe humanitarian catastrophe in the sector," according to a readout from Egypt’s presidency.

It's Blinken's fifth trip to the Middle East since war erupted between Israel and Gaza’s militant rulers, Hamas. Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been involved in negotiations between the warring sides.

-ABC News' Ayat Al-Tawy and Morgan Winsor