Israel-Gaza updates: Gaza sees deadliest day since conflict began
At least 700 people died in Gaza on Tuesday, OCHA said.
Thousands of people have died and thousands more have been injured since the militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel retaliated with a bombing campaign and total siege of the neighboring Gaza Strip, leaving the region on the verge of all-out war.
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What we know about the conflict
The latest outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs the Gaza Strip, has passed the four-month mark.
In the Gaza Strip, at least 30,228 people have been killed and 71,377 others have been wounded by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, according to Gaza's Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health.
In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others have been injured by Hamas and other Palestinian militants since Oct. 7, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
There has also been a surge in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli forces have killed at least 395 people in the territory since Oct. 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The ongoing war began after Hamas-led militants launched an unprecedented incursion into southern Israel from neighboring Gaza via land, sea and air. Scores of people were killed while more than 200 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities. The Israeli military subsequently launched retaliatory airstrikes followed by a ground invasion of Gaza, a 140-square-mile territory where more than 2 million Palestinians have lived under a blockade imposed by Israel and supported by Egypt since Hamas came to power in 2007. Gaza, unlike Israel, has no air raid sirens or bomb shelters.
Gaza hospital 'will turn into a big morgue,' doctor warns
In Gaza, where the "health system is collapsing," doctors "cannot offer much" to their hundreds of severely wounded patients, Dr. Mohammed Ghandil from Gaza's Nasser Hospital told ABC News.
"The hospital door is open, but the health care is not provided," Ghandil said.
"We are just giving some peaceful words for them to die," he said.
The World Health Organization said Tuesday that one-third of hospitals in Gaza and two-thirds of clinics were not functioning.
More than 17,000 people in Gaza have been wounded since Oct. 7.
"Even the medical patient [who] was not wounded, who came with heart attack, with stroke, with sepsis, we're just sending them home because there is no bed in the hospital," he said. "The hospital corridors, the hospital backyards, the hospital balcony are fully, fully packed with the severely wounded."
Gaza is set to run out of fuel Wednesday night, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
"If the fuel is zero," Ghandil said, "the doctors and the nurses will go home and the hospital will turn to a big morgue."
-ABC News' Somayeh Malekian
'Some progress' in hostage negotiations, Qatar says
"Some progress" has been made as Qatar continues its hostage negotiations with Hamas, Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said at a news conference.
"If we compare where we started and where we are right now, there is some progress and some breakthrough and we will remain hopeful," he said. "The negotiations are still ongoing and at any moment of time, I think that if we will be able to get along between the two parties, I think we will see some breakthroughs hopefully soon."
Israel reported that 222 hostages were taken by Hamas. Four hostages have been released in the last week: two American women and two Israeli women.
UN meeting Thursday to debate Israel-Hamas war
The United Nations General Assembly will be called back into an emergency special session in New York on Thursday morning to debate the Israel-Hamas war.
The general assembly could vote on moves, including a humanitarian pause in Gaza and the establishment of an international protective presence in Gaza.
IDF says it targeted Hamas, Hezbollah, Syrian military in 'wide-scale strikes'
The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday morning that it has carried out "wide-scale strikes" in the neighboring Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours.
The Israeli airstrikes hit Hamas infrastructure, including tunnels, military headquarters and weapons warehouses, as well as "several terrorists," including a Hamas commander, according to the IDF.
The IDF said it also killed five Hezbollah militants in neighboring Lebanon who tried to launch missiles and rockets against Israeli forces in the last day.
Two rockets were fired into Israel from neighboring Syria and the IDF said it responded by attacking infrastructure and positions of the Syrian military.
-ABC News' Morgan Winsor
Biden says Israel has right to defend itself while urging country to follow 'laws of war'
President Joe Biden on Wednesday emphasized U.S. support for Israel's right to defend itself, while also urging the country to do "everything in its power" to protect innocent people in Gaza.
"We will ensure Israel has what it needs to defend itself," Biden said during a press conference at the White House with Australia's prime minister.
Biden said Hamas is using Palestinian civilians as human shields, putting an "added burden on Israel while they go after Hamas," but Israel should still do everything it can to follow the "laws of war."
"Israel has to do everything in its power, as difficult as it is, to protect innocent civilians," he said.
Biden also said the flow of aid to Gaza needs to increase and that he was working “around the clock” to secure the release of hostages.
He reiterated his support for a two-state solution, saying that the status quo will never return after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
"I'm convinced one of the reasons Hamas attacked when they did -- I have no proof of this, my instinct tells me -- is because of the progress we were making toward regional integration for Israel and regional integration overall. And we can't leave that work behind,” Biden said, repeating a claim he’s made before about his efforts to broker a broader deal between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia that would lead to Saudi Arabia recognizing Israel.
-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett