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Israel-Gaza live updates: Officials meet with Mossad head to discuss cease-fire deal

The meeting is part of mediation efforts to reach a truce in Gaza, source says.

Last Updated: July 22, 2024, 9:29 AM EDT

As the Israel-Hamas war continues, efforts to secure the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization are ongoing, and Israeli forces have launched an assault in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Jul 22, 2024, 9:29 AM EDT

Gaza death toll passes 39,000

The death toll in Gaza has risen to 39,006, with another 89,818 people hurt since the war broke out on Oct. 7, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.

About one-third of the war victims were children, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health.

A Palestinian boy looks over as he stands on the rubble of buildings destroyed in previous Israel bombardment, on the edge of a pool of stagnant water in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 19, 2024.
Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images

Jul 22, 2024, 8:39 AM EDT

Dozens killed, including children, in Israeli strike in Khan Yunis, hospital official says

At least 44 people, including six children, were killed in an Israeli strike on Khan Yunis, in the Gaza Strip, an official at Nasser Hospital told ABC News.

A relative of a Palestinian killed in an Israeli strike reacts at Nasser hospital, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip July 22, 2024.
Hatem Khaled/Reuters

At least 90 people were injured, the hospital’s head of nursing said.

The Israeli military on Monday ordered the evacuation of part of a designated humanitarian zone in Gaza. The military said it will begin an operation against Hamas militants who are in the area and use it to launch rockets toward Israel.

The deadly strike in Khan Yunis began Sunday night before the evacuation order was announced.

-ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian

Jul 21, 2024, 12:11 PM EDT

Poliovirus detected in wastewater across Gaza: WHO

Poliovirus has been detected in wastewater in multiple locations of the Gaza Strip, including two major cities in the region, the World Health Organization (WHO), Gaza health and Israeli officials confirmed on Sunday.

Among the locations where the poliovirus has been found in wastewater are Deir al-Balah in central Gaza and Khan Younis in southern Gaza, two major cities where the majority of people in the war-torn region currently reside, the officials said.

A Palestinian boy looks over as he stands on the rubble of buildings destroyed in previous Israel bombardment, on the edge of a pool of stagnant water in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 19, 2024.
Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images

WHO officials said that while they have received no reports of people contracting polio symptoms in Gaza, an investigation is underway to identify how the virus has spread. WHO said it is working with UNICEF and the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to investigate and establish "prompt vaccination campaigns."

Two Palestinian boys walk past stagnant pools of water in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 19, 2024,
Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images

Polio is a highly infectious viral disease that largely affects children under 5 years of age, according to WHO's website. Since 1988, poliovirus cases worldwide have decreased by 99%, according to WHO.

The Israel Defense Forces announced Sunday that it will vaccinate all soldiers operating in Gaza to prevent the spread of poliovirus.

The IDF also said is is working with international organizations to provide polio vaccines for people in Gaza.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of WHO, sounded the alarm in a statement on Friday, saying, "The decimation of the health system, lack of security, access obstruction, constant population displacement, shortages of medical supplies, poor quality of water and weakened sanitation are increasing the risk of vaccine-preventable diseases, including polio."

Ghebreyesus added, "This poses a risk for children and creates the perfect environment for diseases like polio to spread."

-ABC News' Victoria Beaulé

Jul 21, 2024, 11:52 AM EDT

Netanyahu to meet with Biden on Tuesday in Washington

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with President Joe Biden in Washington on Tuesday, Netanyahu's office said in a statement Sunday.

The meeting between the two leaders is scheduled to occur at noon on Tuesday, Netanyahu's office said.

Netanyahu's flight to Washington is scheduled to leave Israel on Monday morning, the prime minister's office said.

The meeting between Biden and Netanyahu will come ahead of the Israeli prime minister's July 24 address to a joint session of Congress.

The two governments had tentatively scheduled a meeting between Biden, who is recovering from COVID, and Netanyahu on Monday.

However, a Biden administration official on Sunday disputed that a date and time have been set for the meeting with Netanyahu, and that an exact date and time are still dependent on when the president tests negative for COVID and returns to Washington, D.C. Biden has been self-isolating in Rehoboth, Delaware.-ABC News' Victoria Beaulé and Justin Ryan Gomez

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