Around 83% of households in southern Gaza suffering from inadequate food consumption, according to a new report from the World Food Programme.

The organization also reported Wednesday that 97% of households in northern Gaza have inadequate food consumption.

As a result, 95% of households are adopting extreme food consumption strategies to cope with food shortages in northern Gaza, the report said, with 82% of households doing the same in southern Gaza.

-ABC News' Ellie Kaufman

The United States and its Group of Seven allies called for crossings from Gaza into Israel to be opened for the transfer of humanitarian aid in a statement released Wednesday evening following a virtual meeting.

“The population is increasingly vulnerable, and with winter approaching, we must continue to increase the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza to meet fully the needs on the ground, including by opening additional crossings,” the G7 leaders said in the statement.

Only the Rafah crossing into Egypt is open, while all of the other crossings into Gaza border Israel and have been closed. The White House provided its readout of the meeting but did not mention this joint call for the opening of additional crossings.

The White House said the leaders "expressed deep regret that Hamas refused to release all of its women hostages and military operations resume."

"Hamas offers nothing but suffering to the Palestinian people, and it is an obstacle to a better future for them and for the region. We will continue to coordinate our efforts to isolate Hamas and ensure it cannot threaten Israel," the G7 leaders said in its statement.

-ABC News' Fritz Farrow

Children in Gaza are sharing their traumatic experiences from the war through drawings.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said it organized the event to help children process their complicated feelings.

The art was displayed in the rubble of a bombed house.

The children's art included portraits of families and drawings of homes. One showed an injured person in a hospital bed, and another depicted a journalist's camera and bulletproof vest.

Israeli soldiers are fighting for the first time in the heart of Khan Yunis, a city in southern Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said.

"The city of Khan Yunis is a terrorist stronghold," the IDF said. "The entire leadership of the Hamas terrorist organization -- both military and political -- proliferated in the area of Khan Yunis."

Israeli troops have eliminated terrorists and their infrastructure in the area, the IDF said. One strike was on a mosque that the IDF said was being used to store weapons.

The United States believes eight Americans are still being held hostage by militants in the war-torn Gaza Strip, according to White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.

"We think there's about eight hostages that are Americans. We know of at least one woman in that group," Kirby told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in an interview Wednesday on "Good Morning America."

"We're doing everything we can to try to get them released," he continued. "We're constantly engaged with our partners in the region to try to get this humanitarian pause back in place, so that the flow of hostages can renew."

Although a temporary cease-fire between Israel and Gaza's militant rulers, Hamas, ended last week, the U.S. is "still flowing in humanitarian assistance" to civilians in Gaza, according to Kirby.

"And we're trying to get it up to the level that it was during the pause," he noted.

When asked about what Israel's "endgame" might be in its war against Hamas as Israeli troops expand their offensive across all of Gaza, Kirby said: "That's really something for the Israeli's to speak to."

"We obviously want to see Hamas eliminated as a threat to the Israeli people," he added. "That hasn't been achieved yet. They're going after the leadership as best they can. They believe they need to operate in the south. We've told them you know we’ll continue to support their military operations but we want to make sure that as they do that they're factoring in those innocent civilian lives as much as possible."

-ABC News' Morgan Winsor