Israel-Gaza updates: 17 more hostages released, including 4-year-old American girl, officials say
Fourteen Israeli and three foreign hostages were released Sunday, the IDF 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.
Israel gets new list of hostages to be released Saturday
A new list of hostages to be released on Saturday was handed over to the Israel Defense Forces and Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, Israeli officials said.
The number of hostages to be released was not disclosed. Israeli officials said the list follows the schedule negotiated for freeing the captives in groups over a four-day cease-fire.
On Friday, 24 hostages, including 13 Israelis, were released by Hamas.
Lt. Col. Gal Hirsh, appointed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure the release of Israeli captives in Gaza, has shared the list with family members of the hostages set to be released, Israeli officials said.
Israeli security officials are checking the list, officials said, adding that more information will be released as needed.
-ABC News Matt Gutman
151 more patients evacuated from Al-Shifa Hospital: WHO
At least 151 patients at the Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, which has been under siege for days, have been transferred to other medical facilities, the World Health Organization said Friday.
The mission to transfer the patients occurred on Wednesday, according to a statement from WHO.
It was the third mission undertaken in less than a week to move patients, including 31 infants, according to WHO.
The Israel Defense Forces, which raided the hospital last week, claimed Hamas was using the hospital to conceal its military operations and to hold hostages.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society joined WHO in carrying out the transfer of patients, according to the WHO statement.
Most of the patients were transferred to the European Gaza Hospital, according to WHO.
The patients moved in the latest mission included 73 severely ill patients, 18 of whom are dialysis patients, 26 with serious spinal injuries and eight with severe chronic conditions, according to WHO.
The evacuation was described by WHO as a "high-risk mission," saying it occurred over a 20-hour period as intense fighting and shelling continued in proximity of the hospital.
About 100 patients remain at the hospital, according to WHO.
-ABC News' Eric Strauss
Biden says release of hostages 'just the beginning'
President Joe Biden said Friday that the release of 24 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza is "just the beginning" of a plan to free 50 of the more than 230 captives over four days.
“It's only a start, but so far it's gone well,” Biden said in a televised address from Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he and first lady Jill Biden are vacationing.
He said Friday's hostage release is part of a deal "reached by extensive U.S. diplomacy, including numerous calls I've made from the Oval Office to leaders across the region," including calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and the emir of Qatar.
“All of these hostages have been through a terrible ordeal, and this is the beginning of a long journey of healing for them,” Biden said. “Today has been a product of a lot of hard work and weeks of personal engagement.”
Biden said that under the deal, more hostages would be released over the next three days with 50 being "our goal." But he added, "We also will not stop until we get these hostages brought home and an answer to their whereabouts.”
The president said U.S. officials do not know when Americans -- including two women and 4-year-old Abigail Edan, whose parents were killed by Hamas terrorists -- will be among those that are released or their conditions. He added, “We expect it to occur” and that it’s his “hope and expectation” that it “will be soon.”
Biden said the four-day cease-fire that was negotiated for the release of the hostages will allow time to "accelerate and expand humanitarian assistance going into Gaza."
Speaking of the children freed on Friday, one just 2 years old, Biden said, “The teddy bears waiting to greet those children at the hospital are a stark reminder of the trauma these children have been through at such a very young age.”
-ABC News' Justin Gomez
200 trucks enter Gaza with humanitarian aid during pause: UN
There were 200 trucks carrying aid that entered Gaza through the Rafah border crossing on Friday -- the first day of the humanitarian pause.
Of those 200 trucks, 137 unloaded goods at the reception point for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the aid organization said. It was the largest single-day delivery of aid since Oct. 7, the agency said.
Also, 129,000 liters of fuel and four trucks of gas crossed into Gaza through the border, the U.N. said. President Joe Biden said Friday both fuel and cooking gas were delivered to Gaza.
Twenty-one critically injured patients from northern Gaza were also evacuated through the border.
-ABC News' Will Gretsky
1st group of Israeli hostages freed by Hamas in Gaza, sources say
The first group of Israeli hostages have been released by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross, two sources briefed on the matter told ABC News.
The sources said the Red Cross has the hostages and that the "operation" to get them home has begun.
It was expected that 13 Israeli hostages would be freed by Hamas near Gaza's border with Egypt on Friday in a prisoner exchange deal. But it was unclear exactly how many were handed over to the Red Cross.
-ABC News' Matt Gutman and Morgan Winsor