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.
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
US intelligence assess 'with high confidence' that Israel was not responsible for Gaza hospital explosion
An official with the U.S. Office of the Director of Intelligence told reporters Tuesday that the office has updated its assessment of last week's explosion of al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, which killed hundreds, and stated "with high confidence that Israel was not responsible for the explosion."
The official added, "We assess with low confidence that Palestine Islamic Jihad, PIJ, was responsible for launching the rocket that landed on the hospital,” the official added, noting that they suspect based on their analysis that the rocket responsible likely suffered a "catastrophic motor failure."
The intelligence official said they were drawing on “intelligence, missile activity, open-source video and images of the incident,” including an examination of the blast effects.
"If an Israeli munition was responsible for this blast, we would expect that Palestinian militants would be very directly and clearly showing what they thought was an Israeli munition," the official said. "We've looked at all of the images and in none of them do we assess that there are remnants, Israeli munitions."
-ABC News' Cindy Smith
US engaging in ongoing talks to release a number of hostages: Source
Talks are ongoing between the U.S. and regional partners, including Israel, Egypt, and Qatar to secure the release of a large number of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, a source with knowledge told ABC News.
The U.S. is still advising for a delay to have more time for the hostages to be released and for aid to get out, but does not want to appear to be dictating what to do to the Israelis, according to the source.
-ABC News' Selina Wang
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