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.
Click here for updates from previous days.
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 receive medical supplies, fuel during cease-fire
All areas of the Gaza Strip will receive medical supplies and fuel and cooking gas during the cease-fire, according to Hamas.
In a statement, Hamas said Israeli planes will stop flying over the southern Gaza Strip entirely during the cease-fire. Planes will stop flying over the northern Gaza Strip for six hours a day during the cease-fire.
Israel confirmed that it has received a list of hostages who will be released and officials are in contact with the hostages' families.
Qatar says cease-fire to start Friday at 7 a.m. local time
The Qatar Foreign Ministry announced that the cease-fire will begin on Friday at 7 a.m. local time and will last for four days.
The first hostages will be released at 4 p.m. local time, according to Dr. Majid bin Mohammed Al Ansari, the Qatar Foreign Ministry's spokesperson. Thirteen women and children from the same families will be among the first to be released.
Fifty hostages will be released over four days, Qatar said.
Palestinian Red Crescent accuses IDF of arresting ambulance service director in Gaza
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has accused Israeli authorities of arresting the head of an ambulance service in the Gaza Strip, among other medical staff, during the evacuation of patients and the injured from Al-Shifa Hospital.
"We are deeply concerned about our colleague Awni Khattab, director of the Khan Yunis Ambulance Center, who was arrested yesterday evening and taken to an unknown destination, while a convoy evacuating the wounded from Al-Shifa Hospital passed through the barrier that separates the northern Gaza Strip from its southern one," the PRCS said in a statement on Thursday.
"We hold the [Israeli] occupation authorities fully responsible for the safety of our colleague Khattab, and we demand the immediate release of him and all the medical teams who were detained," the PRCS added. "We call on the international community to provide urgent protection for medical personnel, in accordance with international humanitarian law, as humanitarian and medical personnel must not be a target under any circumstances."
There was no immediate confirmation or comment from the Israel Defense Forces, which has been conducting a ground raid of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City for days. However, the IDF confirmed earlier Thursday that the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, Dr. Muhammad Abu Salamiya, was apprehended for questioning amid accusations that “there was extensive Hamas terrorist activity” at Gaza's largest medical complex while “under his management” -- claims which Hamas denies.
-ABC News' Nasser Atta and Morgan Winsor
Israel confirms arrest of Al-Shifa Hospital director in Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Securities Authority has confirmed the arrest of the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in the Gaza Strip.
"The director of the Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip was apprehended and transferred for ISA questioning following evidence showing that the Shifa Hospital, under his direct management, served as a Hamas command and control center," the IDF and the ISA said in a joint statement on Thursday. "The Hamas terror tunnel network situated under the hospital also exploited electricity and resources taken from the hospital. In addition, Hamas stored numerous weapons inside the hospital and on the hospital grounds."
The IDF and the ISA alleged that Hamas militants "sought refuge within the hospital, some of them taking hostages from Israel with them," in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack. The IDF and the ISA also claimed that a "pathological report" confirms 19-year-old Israeli soldier Noa Marciano, who was taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, was killed on the premises of Al-Shifa Hospital.
"In the hospital, under his management, there was extensive Hamas terrorist activity," the IDF and the ISA said of the Al-Shifa Hospital director, Dr. Muhammad Abu Salamiya. "Findings of his involvement in terrorist activity will determine whether he will be subject to further ISA questioning."
Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza, has denied Israel's allegations that it has placed its command centers under Al-Shifa and other hospitals in the enclave and is deliberately sheltering behind Palestinian civilians.
-ABC News' Dana Savir and Morgan Winsor
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