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:
Biden: Aid trucks will enter Gaza in next 24-48 hours
President Joe Biden said Friday he believes the first 20 humanitarian aid trucks will enter Gaza "in the next 24 to 48 hours."
"I got a commitment from the Israelis and the president of Egypt that the crossing will be opened," he said.
Northern Israeli city evacuated amid Hezbollah fight
The northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona was the latest town along the northern border to be evacuated, allowing Israeli forces to "expand its operational freedom to act against the Hezbollah terrorist organization," an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said.
Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have engaged in artillery exchanges since the outbreak of the latest war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas. Hezbollah has voiced strong support for Hamas, sparking fears that the war could spread into Lebanon.
The IDF said one of its drones "struck a terrorist in Lebanese territory" on Thursday night and that Israeli forces also struck "several military assets belonging to" Hezbollah.
'This cannot continue,' prominent Palestinian activist says of Israel-Hamas war
With Israel and the Hamas militant group on the verge of an all-out war, "the only way out of this is an immediate cease-fire," according to veteran Palestinian activist Mustafa Barghouti.
"How many more thousands of children should die before they are satisfied?" Barghouti said, referring to Israel's total siege and blockade of the neighboring Gaza Strip in retaliation for Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.
Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 3,785 people, including women and children, in Hamas-ruled Gaza since Oct. 7, and now people are running out of food and water, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
In addition to an immediate cease-fire on both sides, Barghouti called for an exchange of all prisoners and the free passage of humanitarian aid for all those in Gaza "who badly need it."
"This cannot continue," he added. "Palestinians are also human beings and cannot be treated in such a manner."
-ABC News' Ibtissem Guenfoud, James Longman and Morgan Winsor
High-tech expert talks efforts to track down hostages
A team of high-tech experts is helping track down the people who were taken hostage or have disappeared in the wake of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
"In the last two weeks, we were really working around the clock," one of the experts, Karine Nahon, told ABC News in a telephone interview on Friday.
Currently, there are about 100 people whose whereabouts remain unknown, according to Nahon. Various experts, government agencies and volunteers have joined forces in an effort to locate them. The team is using "an array" of methods and technologies, from creating new algorithms to matching photos of the missing with videos taken by Hamas, Nahon said.
"We combine them in one space and, together, we're actually able to identify hundreds of people and what’s their status," she added.
-ABC News' Ibtissem Guenfoud, James Longman and Morgan Winsor
At least 500 killed in explosion at Gaza hospital: Gaza Health Ministry
At least 500 people have been killed in an explosion at Al Ahli Arab Hospital in the middle of Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The hospital served as a shelter for thousands of residents who fled their homes in northern Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces denied responsibility for the explosion, saying a failed launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad caused the blast.
"From the analysis of the operational systems of the IDF, an enemy rocket barrage was carried out towards Israel, which passed in the vicinity of the hospital, when it was hit," IDF said.
The World Health Organization condemned the blast and called for "the immediate active protection of civilians and health care" workers.
This hospital "was one of 20 in the north of the Gaza Strip facing evacuation orders from the Israeli military," the WHO said in a statement. "The order for evacuation has been impossible to carry out given the current insecurity, critical condition of many patients, and lack of ambulances, staff, health system bed capacity, and alternative shelter for those displaced."
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has declared three days of mourning following the attack.
-ABC News' Will Gretsky