Israel-Gaza updates: Gaza sees deadliest day since conflict began
At least 700 people died in Gaza on Tuesday, OCHA said.
Thousands of people have died and thousands more have been injured since 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.
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What we know about the conflict
The latest outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs the Gaza Strip, has passed the four-month mark.
In the Gaza Strip, at least 30,228 people have been killed and 71,377 others have been wounded by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, according to Gaza's Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health.
In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others have been injured by Hamas and other Palestinian militants since Oct. 7, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
There has also been a surge in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli forces have killed at least 395 people in the territory since Oct. 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The ongoing war began after Hamas-led militants launched an unprecedented incursion into southern Israel from neighboring Gaza via land, sea and air. Scores of people were killed while more than 200 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities. The Israeli military subsequently launched retaliatory airstrikes followed by a ground invasion of Gaza, a 140-square-mile territory where more than 2 million Palestinians have lived under a blockade imposed by Israel and supported by Egypt since Hamas came to power in 2007. Gaza, unlike Israel, has no air raid sirens or bomb shelters.
House passes resolution defending Israel
The House of Representatives passed a resolution defending Israel and condemning Hamas after the group's attack earlier this month and the escalating war in the Gaza Strip.
The resolution passed in a 412-10 vote. Six members voted present. Nine of the 10 "no" votes came from progressive Democrats, while Rep. Thomas Massie, Ky., was the only Republican to vote against the resolution.
-ABC News' Lauren Peller and Tal Axelrod
Dueling Russia, US resolutions on conflict fail to advance at UN Security Council
The dueling resolutions on the Israel-Hamas war put forth to the United Nations Security Council by Russia and the U.S. have both failed.
Russia's version called for a humanitarian ceasefire and avoided condemning Hamas. Russia, China, the UAE and Gabon voted in favor of the draft, while nine members abstained, and both the U.S. and the U.K. voted against it.
While the U.S. emphasized in its resolution Israel’s right to defend itself from Hamas, officials worked to find a middle ground that would placate a majority of members, urging a pause to military action in Gaza. The U.S. measure secured the votes it needed to advance out of the council but was ultimately vetoed by Russia and China.
"The United States is deeply disappointed that Russia and China vetoed this resolution. A resolution that, as I've said, was strong and it was balanced. That was the product of consultations with members of this Council. We did listen to all of you. We incorporated feedback. And we worked to forge consensus around a resolution that would send a clear message to the world – and most importantly, to Israelis and Palestinians – that this Council is determined to meet this moment," U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.
-ABC News' Shannon Crawford
WHO calls for release of hostages, proof of life, proof of medical care
The World Health Organization said there's "an urgent need" for Hamas to "provide signs of life, proof of provision of health care and the immediate release" of the hostages.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he met with families of some hostages on Wednesday.
"Many of the hostages, including children, women and the elderly, have pre-existing health conditions requiring urgent and sustained care and treatment," he said in a statement. "The mental health trauma that the abducted, and the families, are facing is acute and psychosocial support is of great importance."
Israeli official: 'Definitions of defeating Hamas' must be more 'realistic'
Maj. Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland, the former head of the Israel National Security Council, told ABC News the "definitions of defeating Hamas … have to be a little more measurable and realistic."
Eiland, who has been working inside Israel’s military headquarters, said there’s no way to completely destroy Hamas, but he said what Israel can do "is destroy the military capabilities and other governmental functions of Hamas."
"But even to achieve this limited goal we will have to maintain the military effort," he said.
Eiland said Israel cannot allow Hamas "the ability now or in the future to rebuild their rocket arsenal."
-ABC News' Matt Gutman
US intelligence assess 'with high confidence' that Israel was not responsible for Gaza hospital explosion
An official with the U.S. Office of the Director of Intelligence told reporters Tuesday that the office has updated its assessment of last week's explosion of al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, which killed hundreds, and stated "with high confidence that Israel was not responsible for the explosion."
The official added, "We assess with low confidence that Palestine Islamic Jihad, PIJ, was responsible for launching the rocket that landed on the hospital,” the official added, noting that they suspect based on their analysis that the rocket responsible likely suffered a "catastrophic motor failure."
The intelligence official said they were drawing on “intelligence, missile activity, open-source video and images of the incident,” including an examination of the blast effects.
"If an Israeli munition was responsible for this blast, we would expect that Palestinian militants would be very directly and clearly showing what they thought was an Israeli munition," the official said. "We've looked at all of the images and in none of them do we assess that there are remnants, Israeli munitions."
-ABC News' Cindy Smith