More than 1 million people displaced by the war have sought refuge in Rafah.
More than four months since Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7, the Israeli military continues its bombardment of the neighboring Gaza Strip.
The conflict, now the deadliest between the warring sides since Israel's founding in 1948, shows no signs of letting up soon and the brief cease-fire that allowed for over 100 hostages to be freed from Gaza remains a distant memory.
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The latest outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs the Gaza Strip, has passed the four-month mark.
In the Gaza Strip, at least 30,228 people have been killed and 71,377 others have been wounded by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, according to Gaza's Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health.
In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others have been injured by Hamas and other Palestinian militants since Oct. 7, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
There has also been a surge in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli forces have killed at least 395 people in the territory since Oct. 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The ongoing war began after Hamas-led militants launched an unprecedented incursion into southern Israel from neighboring Gaza via land, sea and air. Scores of people were killed while more than 200 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities. The Israeli military subsequently launched retaliatory airstrikes followed by a ground invasion of Gaza, a 140-square-mile territory where more than 2 million Palestinians have lived under a blockade imposed by Israel and supported by Egypt since Hamas came to power in 2007. Gaza, unlike Israel, has no air raid sirens or bomb shelters.
Egypt and Qatar will co-host a new round of negotiations on the proposed hostage and cease-fire deal on Thursday in Cairo, Egyptian state TV reported.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
First, Netanyahu and Blinken "held a long and in-depth meeting in private" before having "an extended meeting" with other Israeli and U.S. officials, according to a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister's Office.
During the meeting, Blinken reaffirmed Israel’s right to eliminate the threat posed by Hamas and the need to protect civilians in Gaza, according to the State Department. Blinken also stressed the importance of a two-state solution -- a prospect Netanyahu has vocally opposed.
It's Blinken's fifth trip to the Middle East since Oct. 7 when war erupted between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that rules the neighboring Gaza Strip. The United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, has been involved in negotiations between the warring sides.
-ABC News' Jordana Miller, Shannon Crawford and Morgan Winsor
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
