National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, explaining what Secretary of State Antony Blinken meant earlier when he said there would be a "transitional period" in Gaza, said a post-war Gaza will go through a "period of time" where Israeli forces remain on the ground.

"I think all of us can foresee a period of time after the conflict is over where Israeli forces will likely still be in Gaza and will have some initial security responsibilities. But for how long and where and to what size and scale and scope, I think it’s too soon to know that," he said on CNN.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ABC News "World News Tonight" anchor David Muir that Israel would have the "overall security responsibility" of Gaza for an "indefinite period."

-ABC News' Justin Ryan Gomez

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday that he spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders on Monday and reiterated to them that the "U.S. has Israel's back in this dark hour."

Schumer said he told Netanyahu that they must work to protect Palestinian lives, and said he urged Israeli leaders to stop the settler violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.

Israel has "a responsibility to protect innocent Palestinian civilian life. We know this is not easy, but it must be done," Schumer said. "We must likewise work together to send critical humanitarian aid to innocent civilians in Gaza who have nothing to do with Hamas."

"I also strongly urge the Israeli government to quickly clamp down on settler violence against and displacement of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. Violence and displacement against these Palestinian civilians is not just wrong -- it risks spreading the current crisis beyond Gaza at a time when Israel and America are working hard to deter other actors from taking advantage of the situation," Schumer said.

-ABC News' Mariam Khan

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East said 92 of its employees have now been killed in Gaza, the highest number ever seen in a single conflict.

"We are never going to be the same without them," UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said. "Once again I call for a cease-fire for the sake of humanity."

A civilian evacuation corridor from northern Gaza to southern Gaza opened again on Wednesday.

"Due to the substantial response," the corridor was open for an extra hour, running from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. instead of ending at 2 p.m., "allowing many more Gazans to move south for their safety," the Israel Defense Forces said.

Through tears and voices choked with raw emotion, people whose family members are believed to held hostage by Hamas pleaded for help during a Republican-led press conference at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday.

Doris Liber told reporters that her son, Guy Iluz, called her as Hamas unleashed its terrorist attack against Israel on Oct. 7 and she hasn't heard from him since.

"I'm here because it's been 30 days. Every day is like eternity to me," Liber, who holds joint Israeli-American citizenship, said. "We don't have a list of the hostages. We don't know their condition. I don't have anything. So I need your help."

She described the last time she spoke to her son.

"We hear shots in the background," she said. "He was shot in the arm and he wasn't able to stop the bleeding and he was trying to say his last words."

“I tried to, you know, tell him, ‘Guy I love you. Don't worry, nothing's going to happen. I'm going to end the call now. I'm going to send somebody now to get you,'" she continued. "And that's what I did. I hung up and I regret that since I didn't hear from him since."

Yonatan Lulu-Shamriz said he was awoken by his pregnant wife as the sirens began to sound in their kibbutz. They grabbed their 3-year-old daughter, huddled in a safe room and listened as their neighbors were slaughtered, he said. Soon his brother, Alon, called to report he was under attack, Lulu-Shamriz said.

“We don't know what is their condition," Lulu-Shamriz said. "This is a wake-up call not only for Israel, not only for the Jewish community. This is a wake-up call for all of you -- all of you here, all of America, all of Europe. You are next. You are next. And we should do everything that we can to stop these atrocities."

House Speaker Mike Johnson vowed to "take action."

"We're resolved to help," the newly minted speaker said. "House Republicans want to do that."

-ABC News' John Parkinson and Lauren Peller