Israel-Gaza updates: Harris to meet with Israeli war Cabinet member on Monday

The World Health Organization said Friday that at least 10 children are known to have starved to death in the Gaza Strip since the war between Hamas and Israel began on Oct. 7.

"So, the official records yesterday or this morning said there was a 10th child officially registered in a hospital as having starved to death. A very sad threshold, similarly sad as the 30,000 deaths we reached all over Gaza," WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said during a press briefing. "And similar like those, these are official records, and as you all point out exactly, the unofficial numbers can unfortunately be expected to be higher. And once we see them, once we see them registered in hospitals, once we see them registered officially, it's already further down the line."

Lindmeier said Gaza's health care system is now "more than on its knees," with Israel having cut off electricity and freshwater supply and limiting the entry of humanitarian aid into the Hamas-ruled enclave in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attack.

"All this leads to a desperate situation as we saw yesterday in the unfortunate, horrifying incidents, where hundreds of people got killed," he added. "While the U.N. secretary-general mentioned exactly that the investigation should show what the real causes were, that's not even right now important. The important [thing] is that people are so desperate for food, for freshwater, for any supplies that they risk their lives in getting any food, any supplies to support their children, to support themselves."

"This is the real drama, this is the real catastrophe here, that food and supplies are so scarce that we see these situations coming up," he continued. "And the food supplies have been cut off deliberately, let's not forget that."

Lindmeier warned that "once a famine is declared, it is too late for many people."

"We don't want to get to that situation and we need things to change before that,” he told reporters.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky and Morgan Winsor

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "shocked" by Thursday's killing of more than 100 people seeking humanitarian aid in the northern Gaza Strip and that it would require an effective independent investigation.

Guterres made the comments while speaking ahead of a regional summit in St. Vincent and the Grenadines later Thursday. When asked about the U.N. Security Council's repeated failure to adopt a resolution demanding a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, Guterres told reporters that the worsening geopolitical divides have "transformed the veto power into an effective instrument of paralysis of the action of the Security Council."

"I am totally convinced that we need a humanitarian cease-fire and we need the unconditional and immediate release of hostages and that we should have a Security Council able to achieve these objectives," he added.

-ABC News' Morgan Winsor

U.S. Department of State spokesperson Matt Miller acknowledged that Thursday’s deadly incident in Gaza City "very well could" complicate hostage talks.

At least 112 people were killed and 760 others were injured when Israeli forces allegedly opened fire on hungry Palestinians who were waiting for food in Gaza City, according to a spokesperson for Gaza's Hamas-run Ministry of Health.

Israeli security officials told ABC News the crowd approached Israeli troops securing the passage of aid trucks in a manner that posed a threat to the troops, who responded with live fire. There was no use of artillery fire, airstrikes or drone strikes in the incident, according to Israeli security officials.

During a press briefing later Thursday, IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari claimed soldiers did not fire at people seeking aid.

"This terrible event underscores the urgency in bringing the hostage talks to a close," Miller told reporters Thursday. "We continue to believe a deal is possible and that the deal is in the interest of Israel, the Palestinian people and the broader region."

"When it comes to establishing facts on the ground, we are urgently seeking additional information on exactly what took place," Miller noted. "We have been in touch with the Israeli government since early this morning and understand that an investigation is underway. We will be monitoring that investigation closely and pressing for answers."

He later added that no United Nations agencies were believed to have been involved, and that the U.S. had seen "conflicting reports" from Israel and local Palestinians.

"We don't have ground truth on what happened," he said, later adding that "oftentimes the early accounts in these situations have turned out to be incorrect."

Miller also expressed "the United States' deepest condolences to the families for those who died."

"Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed over the course of this conflict, not just today, but over the past nearly five months. And when you think about today's tragedy, it is especially heartbreaking to consider how many of those families affected will be burying loved ones not for the first time," he said.

-ABC News' Shannon Crawford

After suggesting a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel could happen by Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden is now indicating it may take longer to reach a deal, without offering a new timeline.

"Probably not by Monday, but I'm hopeful," Biden told reporters on Thursday. "Hope springs eternal."

The United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, has been mediating talks between the warring sides.

Biden spoke on the phone Thursday with the emir of Qatar and the president of Egypt. All leaders agreed that Hamas should release the hostages "without delay" and that it would result in "an immediate and sustained cease-fire in Gaza over a period of at least six weeks," according to a White House readout.

Biden also thanked Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi for delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza and plans to surge more assistance to the region.

-ABC News' Justin Ryan Gomez