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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What is Palestinian Islamic Jihad?
Israel has blamed Palestinian Islamic Jihad for Tuesday night's deadly blast at a Gaza hospital.
Like Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad is a Gaza militant group involved in the conflict and has claimed to have taken Israelis hostages.
Click here to read what you need to know about the group.
1,524 children among those killed in Gaza, health ministry says
At least 3,785 people have been killed in Gaza, including 1,524 children, 1,000 women and 120 elderly people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
203 people taken hostage from Israel, IDF says
A total of 203 hostages have been taken from Israel since Hamas militants attacked on Oct. 7, Israel’s military said.
At least 306 members of the Israeli military have been killed, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said.
-ABC News' Morgan Winsor
IDF says it's attacked Hezbollah targets
The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday morning that it had attacked Hezbollah targets on the northern Israeli border with Lebanon.
"Among the targets, an observation post towards the sea was attacked from where anti-tank fire was launched at Rosh Hankara yesterday," the IDF said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
The IDF said the attacks were carried out due to "incidents of shooting at Israel in the last day."
-ABC News' Ellie Kaufman
Treasury sanctions key members of Hamas
The Treasury Department announced new sanctions on key members of Hamas, as part of a "continuous effort by the United States to root out Hamas’s sources of revenue in the West Bank and Gaza and across the region."
"The United States is taking swift and decisive action to target Hamas’s financiers and facilitators following its brutal and unconscionable massacre of Israeli civilians, including children," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.
The sanctions target six individuals associated with Hamas’ secret investment portfolio, two senior Hamas officials, and a Gaza-based virtual currency exchange, along with the operator of that exchange.
This is part of a "broad campaign" that is being done with American allies and partners over the coming months that will involve sanctions and "other tools."
"What we're doing today is we're cutting them off from access to their money," a senior administration official said on a call with reporters Wednesday morning. "It'll mean that they have fewer resources to pay their fighters to buy the weapons to support their destabilizing activities."
"Our goal was to make sure that we cut them off from as many sources as possible, make it as hard for them as possible to continue their destabilizing activities in the region," they added.
To date, the Treasury Department says it has targeted nearly 1,000 individuals and entities connected to terrorism and terrorist financing by the Iranian regime and its proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah and others.
-ABC News' Justin Gomez and Elizabeth Schulze and Sarah Kolinovsky