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.
Latest headlines:
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 to run out of fuel Wednesday night: UNRWA
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 we do not get fuel urgently, we will be forced to halt our operations in the Gaza Strip" Wednesday night, UNRWA said.
UN secretary-general responds to Israeli ambassador's criticism
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is responding to the Israeli ambassador's call for him to resign, saying it's false to accuse him of "justifying" Hamas' attacks.
At the U.N. Security Council meeting on Tuesday, Guterres asserted that "the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum," sparking immediate backlash from Israel's ambassador to the U.N., Gilad Erdan.
"The Secretary-General is completely disconnected from the reality in our region and that he views the massacre committed by Nazi Hamas terrorists in a distorted and immoral manner," Erdan said. "His statement that, 'The attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum,' expressed an understanding for terrorism and murder."
"It’s truly sad that the head of an organization that arose after the Holocaust holds such horrible views," Erdan said.
Guterres said at the U.N. Wednesday, "I am shocked by the misinterpretations by some of my statement yesterday in the Security Council, as if I was justifying acts of terror by Hamas. This is false. It was the opposite. In the beginning of my intervention yesterday, I clearly stated -- and I quote: 'I have condemned unequivocally the horrifying and unprecedented 7 October acts of terror by Hamas in Israel. Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians, or the launching of rockets against civilian targets.'"
"Indeed, I spoke of the grievances of the Palestinian people," Guterres continued. "And in doing so, I also clearly stated, and I quote: 'But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas.'"
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.
Israel readying for ground operation, won't reveal date: Netanyahu
Israeli forces are getting ready for the ground operation into Gaza, but will not tell anyone when it will be, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday.
When soldiers enter Gaza, they'll "exact the full price from these murderers," Netanyahu said in Hebrew.
"I once again call on the uninvolved population in Gaza to evacuate to the southern strip," he said.
Netanyahu also said Israel will "do everything possible to bring hostages home."
"We are gathering the support of world leaders," he added. "Our fight against Hamas is also their fight."