A supply of humanitarian aid was airdropped in the war-torn Gaza Strip on Tuesday in cooperation between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, France and the United States, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Approximately 160 packages of food, medical equipment and fuel were airdropped along Gaza's southern coastline using American, Egyptian, Emirati, French and Jordanian planes, the IDF said. The packages were subsequently transferred to residents of southern Gaza and the Jordanian field hospital in Khan Younis, according to the IDF.

Most aid that enters Gaza is in the south of the enclave, while the north has been isolated by the Israeli military and almost completely cut off from aid for weeks, according to the United Nations.

-ABC News' Jordana Miller and Morgan Winsor

Representatives of Hamas and Fatah will meet in Russia’s capital city on Thursday to discuss the formation of a unified Palestinian government and the rebuilding of the war-torn Gaza Strip, according to Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti.

Fatah, the largest political party within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the dominating force behind the Palestinian Authority (PA), currently only controls the West Bank after being forced out of Gaza amid violent clashes with Hamas when the Palestinian militant group and political organization won legislative elections in 2007. Hamas, designated a terrorist group by several countries including the United States, is not part of the PLO and rejects the Fatah-controlled PA's collaboration with Israeli authorities to maintain security in the West Bank.

-ABC News' Ayat Al-Tawy and Morgan Winsor

After President Joe Biden said Monday he "hopes" to see a cease-fire reached by March 4, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Tuesday that Biden’s optimism stemmed from "the broad outlines of a deal" agreed to by Israel, the U.S. and other partners last week, as well as “negotiations that are continuing through this week.”

But Miller said Hamas wields significant control over when and whether a deal is reached.

"Certainly, we'd welcome getting one by this weekend," Miller said. "What I can say about the overall progress is that we made significant progress towards an agreement last week when we had officials from United States government engaging in the region. We continue to pursue further progress this week."

"We are trying to push this deal over the finish line -- we do think it's possible," Miller said.

-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford

A senior Israeli political source told ABC News on Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "surprised" by President Joe Biden's remarks that he was hopeful a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas could be in place "by next Monday."

Netanyahu said in a statement later on Tuesday, "Since the beginning of the war, I have been leading a political campaign whose purpose is to curb the pressures intended to end the war before its time, and on the other hand also to gain support for Israel."

"We have significant successes in this area, because today the Harvard-Harris survey is published in the United States, which shows that 82% of the American public supports Israel," he continued. "This gives us two more strength to continue the campaign until the complete victory."

-ABC News' Zoe Magee, Jordana Miller and Morgan Winsor

At least 10 children have reportedly died in recent days from dehydration and malnutrition while at a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, a UNICEF official said Sunday.

The children died at the Kamal Adwan Hospital, Adele Khodr, UNICEF's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement.

"These tragic and horrific deaths are man-made, predictable and entirely preventable," Khodr said in the statement. "The widespread lack of nutritious food, safe water and medical services, a direct consequence of the impediments to access and multiple dangers facing U.N. humanitarian operations, is impacting children and mothers, hindering their ability to breastfeed their babies, especially in the northern Gaza Strip."

Khodr said the disparity in conditions in Gaza's north and south "is clear evidence that aid restrictions in the north are costing lives."

Nearly 16% of children, or one in six, under the age of 2 in the northern Gaza Strip are acutely malnourished, said Khordr, citing malnutrition screenings in January by UNICEF and the U.N. World Food Program.

Khodr said similar screenings conducted in southern Gaza found that 5% of children under 2 are acutely malnourished.

"Now, the child deaths we feared are here and are likely to rapidly increase unless the war ends and obstacles to humanitarian relief are immediately resolved," Khodr said.

Khodr's statement came a day after the U.S. Department of Defense conducted its first combined humanitarian assistance airdrop across Gaza with the Royal Jordanian Air Force.

About one-quarter of Gaza's population -- 576,000 people -- are "one step away from famine" and facing a "grave situation," Ramesh Rajasingham, director of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said last week..

-ABC News Nadine Shubailat