Israel-Gaza updates: 17 more hostages released, including 4-year-old American girl, officials say
Fourteen Israeli and three foreign hostages were released Sunday, the IDF 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.
Click here for updates from previous days.
Latest headlines:
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.
Norwegian Refugee Council: 4-day pause not enough
Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said in a statement that the planned four-day pause in hostilities "is not enough time to address the immense needs after six weeks of fighting, bloodshed, and destruction."
Egeland said the pause "must pave the way for a lasting cease-fire."
"Small shelters have housed scores of people, with little food and water and mounting health hazards. Children are traumatized, and many face a future without their parents and siblings," Egeland said. "They need urgent, long-term help. This can only happen through a sustained cease-fire."
Israeli Hostage Center: 'No victory until every last hostage returns home'
In the wake of the approved hostage deal, in which Hamas would release 50 of the approximately 236 people taken hostage from Israel, the Israeli Hostage Center said in a statement, "There is no victory until every last hostage returns home."
The release of the at least 50 hostages would come over the course of a four-day pause in hostilities, Israel's prime minister said, and as a part of this deal, 150 Palestinian prisoners will also be released by Israel.
The hostage center said it demands "the current cease-fire terms ensure both security and welfare for remaining hostages held by Hamas, including the promised Red Cross visits."
Hostilities continue before deal on hostages, temporary truce goes into effect
IDF and Hamas continued hostilities hours after reaching a deal for a temporary truce and the release of some of the hostages being held by Hamas.
Israel's Cabinet voted to agree to the deal with Hamas early Wednesday morning, however, the temporary cease-fire has not started yet. The cease-fire was expected to begin Thursday, however, in a late Wednesday night update, Israeli officials said it would start Friday and no hostages would be released until then.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed in a statement early Wednesday that it "is continuing to operate in the Gaza Strip, including striking terrorist infrastructure, killing terrorists, and locating weapons."
"This morning, IDF troops neutralized a terror tunnel shaft from which a Hamas terrorist exited and fired at the soldiers," the IDF said. "Moreover, IDF troops identified terrorists and located weapons in a structure used by the Hamas terrorist organization. The troops killed the terrorists and destroyed the structure."
Rockets launched by militants continued to be fired toward Israel on Wednesday.
The deal between Israel and Hamas was mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States. Israeli law requires a 24-hour waiting period after the vote before the agreement can be put into action, during which time the Supreme Court of Israel may need to get involved in the event of any legal challenges. However, it is expected that the cease-fire and the prisoner swap will begin Thursday morning.
This post has been updated for clarity.
-ABC News' Joe Simonetti and Morgan Winsor
White House official talks 'key' moment that led to 'breakthrough' in hostage deal
The "key" to securing the hostage deal between Israel and Hamas "was bearing down on both sides" to "get specific" on the details, according to U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
The agreement that was reached on Wednesday was mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.
"The big move happened late last week when [U.S.] President [Joe] Biden spoke first with [Israeli] Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and then with the emir of Qatar to say, how many hostages, for how any days in return for how many Palestinian prisoners," Sullivan told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in an interview Wednesday on "Good Morning America."
"And it was really the work to refine those details that finally produced the breakthrough that we now see resulting in the announcement of a pause of hostilities and the first return of prisoners, of hostages," he added.
-ABC News' Morgan Winsor
75 women among Palestinian prisoners in Israel: Advocacy group
Approximately 75 Palestinian women, five teenage girls and 200 boys -- mostly teenagers -- are detained in Israel, according to a spokesperson for Addameer, a group which monitors the treatment of Palestinian prisoners.
Before the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7, about 150 Palestinian boys, as well as 30 women and girls, were in Israeli prisons, the spokesperson said.
According to the newly brokered deal, 150 Palestinian prisoners would be released by Israel in exchange for at least 50 hostages released by Hamas. The deal also includes a four-day pause in hostilities.