Israel-Gaza updates: Netanyahu says war to continue 'on all fronts'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced his opposition to a Palestinian state in a post-war Gaza.

"For 30 years I have been consistent -- this conflict is not about the absence of a Palestinian state but about the existence of a Jewish state. Wherever we vacate territory, we receive terrorism," he said at a news conference. "It happened in Judea and Samaria and it happened in Gaza. In any agreement, Israel must control all territory west of Jordan. This is what I say to our American friends: I stopped the possibility of a security breach in the State of Israel. This did not prevent me from expanding the circle of peace to four Arab countries, and I am determined to expand it to other countries in the region, together with our American friendship."

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in response that Israel, for the first time, has a "historic opportunity" to "deal with challenges that it has faced since its founding.”

"You see the countries in the region who are ready to step up and further integrate with Israel and provide real security assurances to Israel. The United States is ready to play its part, too, but they all have to have a willing partner on the other side," Miller said.

Miller also said, regarding the challenges facing Israel after the war eventually ends, "There is no way to solve their long-term challenges, to provide lasting security and there is no way to solve the short-term challenges of rebuilding Gaza, establishing governance and providing security for Gaza without the establishment of a Palestinian state."

It was unclear Thursday whether medical aid had reached Israeli hostages in the war-torn Gaza Strip as part of a Qatari-brokered deal between Israel and Gaza's militant rulers, Hamas.

During an interview Thursday on CNN, a spokesperson for Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the medicine was received by Gaza's Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health but that there was not yet confirmation of it being distributed to the Israeli hostages as agreed upon. The spokesperson noted that an ongoing telecommunications blackout in Gaza has made it difficult to get information in real time.

The medical aid, provided by Qatar and France, entered Gaza on Wednesday, according to the Qatari foreign ministry.

As part of the agreement, Hamas was expected to pick up the medicine for the Israeli hostages at designated hospitals and then distribute it among the abductees. Qatar will verify and provide proof to Israel that the medicine was in fact delivered to the hostages, according to Hamas and Qatari officials.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has helped with getting aid into Gaza and transferring some hostages out of the enclave as part of previous deals, said it has no role in the implementation of this agreement, including the delivery of the medicine.

"The ICRC initiated the conversation in its role as a neutral intermediary. The parties negotiated the agreement, including how much medicines would be delivered and by whom, with Qatar brokering the deal," the ICRC told ABC News in a statement on Thursday. "The mechanism that was agreed to does not involve the ICRC playing any part in its implementation, including the delivery of medication."

"The ICRC welcomes the agreement to deliver medications to the hostages and to medical facilities for the residents of Gaza as a positive humanitarian step," the organization added.

The Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson told CNN on Thursday that the ICRC could not be involved because the security situation in Gaza makes it almost impossible for them to deliver the medicine.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky, Jordana Miller, Cindy Smith and Morgan Winsor

Qatar said Tuesday it has mediated a deal between Israel and Hamas to deliver medicine to Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip.

Medicine and other humanitarian aid will also be delivered to civilians "in the most affected and vulnerable areas" of the Gaza Strip as part of the deal, Qatar said.

The aid landed in Egypt Wednesday and "includes medicines provided by the State of Qatar and the French Republic, along with food items provided by Qatar Charity to be further transferred to Gaza," the Qataris said.

NetBlocks, a London-based nonprofit that covers internet connectivity around the world, said Wednesday that the Gaza Strip has been "in the midst of a near-total telecoms blackout for 120 hours."

"The disruption, now entering its sixth day, is the longest sustained telecoms outage on record since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war," NetBlocks wrote in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky and Morgan Winsor