Israel-Gaza live updates: Hostage families plan action as Netanyahu seeks forgiveness

Some 160,000 Gaza children received their first vaccination for polio on Sunday and Monday, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The emergency rollout began on Sunday, facilitated by a partial pause in fighting in the strip. Medical teams in the central part of the territory said they were able to vaccinate 72,611 children on the first day of the campaign.

Palestinian health authorities and United Nations agencies said they were hoping to vaccinate 640,000 children during the push. Israel agreed to some pauses in fighting to support the campaign, though airstrikes have continued in its first two days.

Israel has said the vaccination program will continue through Sept. 9 and last eight hours a day.

Polio is among the illnesses feared to be thriving in Gaza after 10 months of war. The strip's long-standing humanitarian difficulties have been exacerbated by the destruction of health care facilities, critical infrastructure, and the displacement -- sometimes repeated displacement -- of most of the territory's residents.

Gaza recently reported its first polio case in 25 years -- a 10-month-old boy, now paralyzed in a leg. The World Health Organization said the case suggests there could be hundreds more infected who are not symptomatic.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky and David Brennan

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is asking for forgiveness from the families of the six slain hostages whose bodies were recovered this weekend.

"I ask you for forgiveness that we did not succeed to bring your loved ones back alive. We were close, but we did not succeed," Netanyahu said at a Monday news conference.

Netanyahu again said the Israel Defense Forces must maintain a presence on the Egyptian border, but he said the IDF does not need a "large" presence of forces there. It needs groups of forces in key areas all along the border, he said. Netanyahu also reiterated that the IDF must maintain a presence in the Philadelphi corridor to reach the goals of the war.

When asked how he would define "total victory" in the war, Netanyahu responded, "When Hamas no longer rules Gaza -- we throw them out. I would define the end of the war of World War II when the Nazis no longer ruled Germany. To do that you need to have a military victory and you have to have also a political victory to destroy their governance."

Netanyahu also said that international "pressure" must be directed at Hamas, not Israel.

"These murderers executed six of our hostages, they shot them in the back of the head. And now after this we're asked to show seriousness, we're asked to make concessions? What message does this send Hamas?" he said.

Netanyahu added, "I don't believe President [Joe] Biden or anyone serious about achieving peace and achieving the release [of hostages] can seriously ask Israel to make these concessions. We've already made them. Hamas has to make concessions."

A Hamas military spokesman said in a new statement the Israeli hostages won't be freed by force.

"Netanyahu's insistence on freeing the prisoners through military pressure instead of concluding a deal will mean their return to their families in coffins, and their families will have to choose between dead or alive," the spokesperson said.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

President Joe Biden told reporters "we’re still negotiating" when asked if there will be a final hostage and cease-fire deal proposed this week.

Asked what he wants Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do, Biden replied, "We’re in the middle of negotiations."

"We’re still in negotiations. Not with him [Netanyahu], with my colleagues from Qatar and from Egypt," Biden said.

Earlier on Monday, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with the U.S. hostage deal negotiating team in the Situation Room.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke on the phone Monday morning with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, a U.S. official said. They discussed efforts to conclude a deal for the release of the hostages and for a cease-fire in Gaza, the official said.

-ABC News’ Karen Travers, Elizabeth Schulze and Lauren Peller

Protesters broke through barriers near Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem on Monday as they demanded progress on a deal to return the hostages in Gaza.

Monday marks the second day of large protests across Israel after six murdered hostages were recovered in Gaza this weekend.