Israel-Gaza updates: Biden speaks with Netanyahu about hostages' release, Gaza humanitarian assistance
The hostages are two elderly women who are both Israeli nationals.
Thousands of people have died and thousands more were injured after the militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel retaliated with a bombing campaign and total siege of the neighboring Gaza Strip, leaving the region on the verge of all-out war.
At least 1,400 people have died and 4,629 others have been injured in Israel, according to Israeli authorities. In Gaza, 5,087 people have died and 15,273 have been wounded, according to the Palestinian Health Authority.
Aid workers and officials fear that Israel's call for an evacuation of the northern part of Gaza is precipitating a humanitarian disaster as electricity and other supplies have been cut off in preparation for what appears to be an imminent ground offensive.
Humanitarian groups have urged Israel to call off the evacuation and agree to a cease-fire, even as the country has asserted a right to defend itself -- a right the United States endorses.
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Latest headlines:
British PM to visit Israel Thursday
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will visit Israel and meet with Israeli leaders on Thursday, his office announced.
The two-day trip will include meetings with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog "before traveling to a number of other regional capitals," his office said in a statement.
“The attack on al-Ahli Hospital should be a watershed moment for leaders in the region and across the world to come together to avoid further dangerous escalation of conflict. I will ensure the UK is at the forefront of this effort.” Sunak said in a statement.
The prime minister "will stress that any civilian death is a tragedy and tell fellow leaders that, as an international community," Sunak's office said in a statement.
-ABC News' Mike Trew and Ellie Kaufman
White House provides more detailed assessment of Gaza hospital explosion
White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson released a statement Wednesday providing more details about their assessment that Israel was not responsible for the hospital explosion in Gaza that killed over 500 people.
"Intelligence indicates that some Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip believed that the explosion was likely caused by an errant rocket or missile launch carried out by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). The militants were still investigating what had happened," she said in the statement.
Watson reiterated that intelligence officials are "continuing to work to corroborate whether it was a failed PIJ rocket."
-ABC News' Ben Gittleson
Biden says aid likely to arrive in Gaza Friday
President Joe Biden told reporters aboard Air Force One that Egypt’s president has agreed to open the Rafah crossing gate to allow up to 20 trucks with aid to travel to Gaza.
He said there are potholes in the road that have to be fixed before the trucks can go through, so the aid may not get there until Friday.
"This has been a very blunt negotiation," Biden said.
The president said according to the agreement, if the aid trucks cross the border, the U.N. will be on the other side to distribute it. However, if Hamas confiscates the supplies, or if it doesn't get through "then it's going to end," Biden said.
The Rafah crossing was shut on Oct. 10 after it was hit by Israeli warplanes on the Palestinian side three times on Oct. 9 and 10.
Gaza has been under siege by Israeli forces for over a week and humanitarian groups, doctors and others on the ground have pleaded for more supplies.
-ABC News' Selina Wang
UK government advises citizens to leave Lebanon
The United Kingdom issued an advisory to its citizens living in Lebanon to "leave now while commercial options remain available."
The advisory warned of ongoing mortar, artillery exchanges and airstrikes in the southern part of the country which borders Israel. It also stated there's "a risk of civil unrest."
"Events in Lebanon are fast moving. The situation has potential to deteriorate quickly and with no warning," the government said in the advisory.
The government warned that "the British Embassy may be increasingly limited in the assistance that it can provide," if things escalate.
-ABC News' Ellie Kaufman
32 Americans dead, 11 unaccounted for
Thirty-two Americans have been confirmed dead in Israel and another 11 U.S. citizens are unaccounted for, State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Thursday.
-ABC News' Shannon Crawford
