Israel-Gaza live updates: 3 premature babies die at Al-Shifa Hospital, doctor says

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and World Health Organization announced Wednesday that medical supplies and medicines have been delivered to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.

This is the second delivery to the hospital since the attacks on Gaza began, the two organizations said in a joint statement.

"While welcome, the quantities we delivered are far from sufficient to respond to the immense needs in the Gaza Strip. The medical conditions at Al-Shifa - the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip and one of the oldest Palestinian health institutions - are disastrous." the UNRWA and WHO said.

The organizations said there are currently "almost two patients for every bed available."

"The emergency department and wards are overflowing requiring doctors and medical workers to treat wounded and sick patients in the corridors, on the floor and outdoors," NRWA and WHO said.

The issue of hostages remains a priority for Hamas in its conflict with Israel, the spokesperson of the group's armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, said Wednesday.

"The only clear path to this issue is a comprehensive or partial prisoner exchange deal," Abu Obeida said in a video statement on Telegram.

He said Hamas has its own civilians and fighters in Israeli prisons, and Israel has the same types of groups in Hamas’ group’s custody.

"There is absolutely no solution to this issue other than this path and a swap category by category or as a comprehensive process," he said.

Obeida accused Israel of "hindering and destroying all efforts to hand over foreign hostages" by refusing to create the right conditions to do so and jeopardizing captives' lives.

The group's fighters have completely or partially destroyed 136 Israeli military vehicles since the start of the ground invasion as they clashed with Israeli forces in northwest and southern Gaza City and the northern part of the Gaza Strip, he said.

-ABC News’ Ayat Al-Tawy

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday evening that "there will be no cease-fire without the release of our hostages -- everything else is false."

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said there are about 500 to 600 Americans and family members remaining in Gaza.

Asked if the lack of humanitarian pauses is a factor in why hundreds of Americans remain in Gaza, Kirby said it’s among the many "complicating factors."

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IDF forces fighting in Gaza City

ABC News’ Ines de la Cuetara is in Israel and has the details on Israel Defense Forces fighting in the heart of Gaza trying to root out Hamas.

Kirby would not confirm Axios' report that President Joe Biden is asking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a three-day pause to allow progress in releasing more hostages, but Kirby said that discussions are ongoing with Israel, noting that there have been pauses in the past.

Kirby said they are trying to get an agreement "for as many pauses as might be necessary to get all of them out," but called it a "delicate negotiating process," and laid out some of the options that are being floated.

"What we're talking about here is temporary, fixed in time, short duration, hours to days, depends on the need. And then also localized in terms of the map," he explained. "So it would be an agreement that for a set period of time [in a set area] there will be a pause in the fighting. That doesn't mean that there won't be or couldn't be fighting outside that zone during that same period of time. So all of that has to get factored in and I have no doubt that on the Israeli side, as they look at each proposal, they'll think about the impact, potential impact, on their military operations on the ground or in the air."

-ABC News' Justin Ryan Gomez