President Joe Biden confirmed that he has pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a three-day pause in Gaza. Biden said he's also asked for an even bigger window to get the remaining hostages out.

Biden told reporters his message to the families of hostages is: "We're not going to stop until we get them out."

Israeli officials say Hamas had 239 hostages in Gaza. Four hostages were released from Gaza over the last few weeks: two American women and two Israeli women. The Israel Defense Forces said a fifth hostage, a female Israeli soldier, was rescued during the Israeli military's ground operations in Gaza.

Asked if there would be a cease-fire, Biden responded, "None. No possibility."

-ABC News' Justin Ryan Gomez and Tia Humphries

CIA Director William Burns took part in a meeting in Qatar regarding a potential hostage deal, a U.S. official confirmed.

Burns also traveled to Egypt "where he met with his intelligence counterparts and country leaders," the official said. "They discussed issues of mutual concern, including the situation in Gaza and the USA commitment to ensuring humanitarian aid there."

A "general" cease-fire would benefit Hamas and "legitimize" the group's Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Thursday.

"A general cease-fire means everybody lays your arms down and you talk about the end of this conflict," Kirby told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on "Good Morning America." "To do that right now would be a benefit to hamas. It would give them time. It would also legitimatize what they did on October 7th."

He said Israeli military forces were in the middle of an "operational campaign" targeting Hamas leadership.

"We believe Israel has a right to do that and we'll continue to make sure they get the tools and capabilities," Kirby said.

But there may be a need for a "pause" if some of the about 240 hostages taken by Hamas are to be released, Kirby said

"What we want to make sure is not only can we secure their release, George, but that when we get that release secured, that we can get them safely out of Gaza and into Israel, into safer hands," he said. "That requires this idea of a temporary humanitarian pause."

-ABC News' Kevin Shalvey

About 72,000 people have fled northern Gaza in the last four days, moving south along a corridor opened by Israeli military forces, the United Nations said Thursday.

About 50,000 traveled along Salah al-Din Road in the hours the corridor was opened on Wednesday, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

“Clashes and shelling on and around the road reportedly continued, endangering evacuees with reports of corpses alongside the road,” the U.N. statement said.

Many have arrived at the corridor on foot. Some who’ve driven there have been told to leave their vehicles along the outskirts of Gaza City, the U.N. said. Videos and photos released by the Israel Defense Forces have shown crowds marching while waving white flags.

“The evacuees then walk 4-5 kilometres down the corridor, with an estimated distance of up to 20 kilometres for those traveling farthest,” the U.N. said.

-ABC News’ Victoria Beaule

Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Iraq to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on Sunday following the secretary's visits to Israel, Jordan and the West Bank.

Blinken told reporters that his meeting with the Iraqi prime minister was productive and said he emphasized the need to prevent spillover from the conflict in Gaza.

"I made very clear that the attacks, the threats coming from militia that are aligned with Iran are totally unacceptable," Blinken said. "We're not looking for conflict with Iran. We've made that very clear. But we'll do what's necessary to protect our personnel."

"We're working very hard to make sure that the conflict in Gaza does not escalate, does not spread to other places, whether it's here, whether it's elsewhere in the region," he said.

Blinken was asked about Arab leaders' instance that nothing short of a total cease-fire would be acceptable.

"I think everyone would welcome humanitarian pauses -- there's no doubt about that," Blinken responded.

He said pauses "advance things that we're all trying to accomplish," including getting more humanitarian aid into Gaza, getting people out of Gaza and getting hostages home.

On his meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Blinken said the PA was "playing a very important role right now in the West Bank in trying to keep stability there."

-ABC News' Shannon Crawford