Israel-Gaza updates: IDF says it exposed Hamas tunnel under Shifa Hospital

Many details remain up in the air regarding a deal to release the Hamas-held hostages in exchange for a pause in fighting in Gaza, according to U.S. officials.

One of the biggest sticking points is the number of hostages that will be released, according to an Israeli source.

Israel wants all the children, their mothers and all of their family members released, the source said. If you count just women and young children, that's about 50 hostages; if you add the family members, you get up to about 80 hostages, according to the source.

The discussions remain fluid, the source said.

It's too soon to tell if a deal will come together, but people participating in negotiations have yet to throw in the towel, the U.S. officials said.

Asked about the deal by "World News Tonight" anchor David Muir on Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. is focused "intensely" on bringing hostages home.

"But having said that, honestly the less that I say the better at this moment because we don't want to jeopardize anything that we're doing to try to bring people home," he said. "I'm hopeful that we can bring people home."

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Antony Blinken discusses latest in US role in Israel-Hamas conflict

David Muir speaks with the Secretary of State about the latest developments in the Israel-Hamas conflict, including intelligence over alleged Hamas activity in hospitals.

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-ABC News' Shannon K. Crawford and Matt Gutman

State Department spokesperson Matt Miller, who said earlier that the U.S. supported evacuating patients from Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital and was liaising with partners who could potentially carry that out, said Thursday the conditions in Gaza wouldn't allow for it.

"There are third parties that have expressed an interest to do so," he said, however, "it’s been impossible to ensure that they could move safely to conduct these evacuations."

He later specified that "the problem has been Hamas."

Miller again expressed confidence in U.S. intelligence supporting the assertion that Hamas was using Al-Shifa Hospital as cover for a command-and-control center.

Miller disagreed with the assertion that the evidence supplied by the Israel Defense Forces -- like weapons recovered from the hospital -- was not compelling.

“I saw a host of assault rifles," Miller said. "I’m not aware that there’s a sort of acceptable threshold level for assault rifles held in hospitals -- that’s not general humanitarian practice."

Miller later added, "It is an ongoing operation. I think people should wait until the operation is finished to draw their own conclusions.”

About 300 American citizens as well as approximately 600 legal, permanent U.S. residents and their eligible family members remain in Gaza, Miller said.

-ABC News' Shannon Crawford

The body of Yehudit Weiss, a 65-year-old woman who was abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, was found at a "structure adjacent" to Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital, the Israeli Defense Forces said in a statement Thursday.

Her body was "extracted" and "transferred to Israeli territory," the IDF said.

"In the structure in which Yehudit was located, military equipment including Kalashnikov rifles and [rocket-propelled grenades] were also found," the IDF said.

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Body of a hostage found in Gaza, IDF says

ABC News’ Patrick Reevell has the details as the IDF announces the body of another has been found near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.

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"For us, it is too late," Weiss' daughter-in-law told The Times of Israel. "But it is important for us to support all the families of the hostages, and to tell the world -- bring them home now."

The Israel Defense Force's chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, claimed his forces are "quite close" to completely destroying Hamas' military system in northern Gaza.

"We will complete it. We have some finishing to do, but we are getting close to it nicely," Halevi told commanders in a video published by the IDF.

Halevi said the IDF will continue its activity in the Gaza Strip and will "kill [Hamas] commanders and operatives and destroy the infrastructure."

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Thursday that "over the last 24 hours we have gained [operational] control of the western area of Gaza City. The next phase has begun -- the forces are acting precisely and decisively."

"The further we take this operation, [the more we] increase the pressure on Hamas and succeed in eliminating their terror infrastructure including headquarters and tunnels, while also taking down [Hamas] leadership and operatives," he added.

Senior Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh stressed Thursday that its forces will defeat the Israelis, saying, "Our people and their strong resistance have thwarted the enemy’s goals and plans to displace our people or recover their hostages by force."

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What is Hamas?

Hamas is an Islamic political and militant organization that controls the Gaza Strip.

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