Israel-Gaza updates: US ambassador to Israel demands return of hostages

The main highway connecting south and north Gaza, Salah al-Din Road, which Israeli forces used for a civilian corridor, has become impassable in Deir al Balah in central Gaza.

“When we came here, we were surprised -- Salah al-Din is a main road connecting the north and the south in four directions, 70 meters wide,” Gaza resident Yahya Deeb Al-Laham told ABC News. Now there’s “no infrastructure, no electricity, no roads, buildings and areas are non-existent … there is nothing here, there are no signs of life. Homes for families have completely disappeared and not a single one of them remains.”

The Israelis have recently left the area.

One of the families who followed Israeli military instructions, evacuating from northern Gaza to Deir al Balah, has been completely wiped out.

The surviving family member, Muhammad Fouad Abu Safi, returned to the site to sift through the rubble and try to find what might be left of his family.

“They left me no family member, no sister, no brother, no cousin, no child,” he told ABC News. “There were about 50 people here. Only three children, girls, came out alive … the rest here were taken out as body parts or decomposing bodies.”

“Humanity has ended, mercy has ended,” he said. “Neither from America nor from any country, there is no humanity or mercy.”

-ABC News’ Samy Zayara

Hamas leader Osama Hamdan said in a statement that the Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza "will not return alive to their families" unless Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli leaders respond to Hamas’ conditions, "the first of which is a comprehensive and complete cessation of their aggression against the Gaza Strip."

A delegation from Israel is in Egypt for new discussions on swapping Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza for Palestinians in prison in Israel, an Egyptian security source confirmed to ABC News.

Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz warned Wednesday that "Hamas will regain control" of the Gaza Strip if the Israeli military ceases combat operations there.

"We must go on. If we stop now, Hamas will regain control," Gantz, a retired army general who previously served as Israel's defense minister and alternate prime minister, said during a press conference in Tel Aviv. "In most areas, we have completed the phase of operational takeover and now, we are deep in the phase of dismantling the terrorist infrastructure, which will lead to the demilitarization of the strip."

However, Gantz noted that "the most urgent thing is the return of the abductees." More than 100 Israeli citizens are believed to still be held hostage by militants in Gaza after being taken captive during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.

"This has precedence over every move in combat," he said.

Gantz also warned that the Israeli military "will act in southern Lebanon as we act in northern Gaza" if the neighboring country "continues to serve as an Iranian terrorist outpost." His remarks came as Israeli forces continue to exchange fire with Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, amid fears that regional tensions could escalate into a wider war in the Middle East.

"This is not a threat to Lebanon," Gantz added. "It is a promise to the residents of [northern Israel]."

Israel's war cabinet is expected to meet on Wednesday evening, followed by a meeting of the wider security cabinet.

-ABC News' Dana Savir and Morgan Winsor