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.
Hamas accuses IDF of arresting Al-Shifa Hospital director, staff in Gaza
Hamas has accused the Israeli military of arresting the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in the Gaza Strip, along with several other staff members "who remained at the facility to help patients and wounded evacuate."
"We see this move by Israel as nothing less than despicable, lacking any sense of humanity and morals," Hamas said in a statement on Thursday morning. "It is also a flagrant violation of international norms and charters, given obligations to ensure that medical personnel are never harmed, including in times of war."
Hamas noted that Al-Shifa Hospital's director, Dr. Muhammad Abu Salamiya, was in contact with International Committee of the Red Cross and the World Health Organization "to evacuate the remaining patients and wounded." The militant group, which rules Gaza, called on the ICRC, the WHO and other international bodies "to exert pressure on the Israeli occupation army to secure his release, along with the medical personnel who were arrested simply for continuing to fulfil their humanitarian duty."
In a separate statement on Thursday, Gaza's Hamas-run Ministry of Health said the arrests occurred Wednesday as the United Nations and its health arm, the WHO, led a convoy of evacuated patients and medical staff from Al-Shifa Hospital. Israeli soldiers "stopped the convoy at a checkpoint separating the northern and southern Gaza Strip for seven hours" before arresting the hospital director and other staff members, according to the health ministry.
"The [Israeli] occupation bears full responsibility for the lives and safety of detained colleagues," the ministry added. "The United Nations bears full responsibility for what happened, and we await measures on their part to address this. We decided to stop coordination with the World Health Organization until a report on what happened was submitted and all detainees were released."
There was no immediate confirmation of the event or comment from the U.N. or the WHO.
There was also no immediate confirmation of the arrests or comment from the Israel Defense Forces, which has been conducting a ground raid of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City for days.
The IDF alleges that Hamas has placed its command centers under Al-Shifa and other hospitals in Gaza and is deliberately sheltering behind Palestinian civilians -- claims that the militant group denies.
-ABC News' Nasser Atta and Morgan Winsor
IDF says it struck more than 300 Hamas targets in Gaza over past day
The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday morning that it has carried out airstrikes on more than "300 Hamas terror targets" in the Gaza Strip over the past day.
The targets that were struck included Hamas "military command centers, underground terror tunnels, weapon storage facilities, weapon manufacturing sites, and anti-tank missile launch posts," according to a statement from the IDF.
-ABC News' Jordana Miller and Morgan Winsor
Start of cease-fire to be 'announced within the next few hours,' Qatar says
The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Dr. Majed bin Mohammed Al Ansari, announced Thursday morning that the talks between Israel and Hamas on the details of the implementation plan for the humanitarian pause deal in the Gaza Strip "are continuing and progressing positively."
"Dr. Al Ansari affirmed that the start of the pause agreed upon will be announced within the next few hours," a statement from the ministry read. "Work continues with both parties, and with our partners in the sisterly Arab Republic of Egypt and the United States in order to ensure rapid start of the pause and provide what is necessary to ensure the parties adherence to the agreement."
The temporary truce was expected to begin Thursday morning, while a prisoner swap was to start no earlier than Friday. But a senior Israeli official told ABC News late Wednesday that neither will happen before Friday.
The deal between Israel and Hamas, reached Wednesday morning, was mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the U.S.
-ABC News' Zoe Magee and Morgan Winsor
Doctor in Egypt says some of evacuated Gaza premature babies are in 'critical' condition
A doctor at Al-Arish Hospital in Egypt shared an update on the condition of the premature babies evacuated from Gaza earlier this week, saying about 10% of them are in "critical" condition.
"When the babies arrived at our hospital … they were facing a lot of bad conditions during transfer, taking their medical history, not accompanying families for them, so you are dealing with … very critical conditions for them," Dr. Ahmed Mahdy told ABC News Wednesday.
Sixteen premature babies were brought to Al-Arish Hospital in Egypt near the border after Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza ran out of fuel to run their incubators and came under attack by IDF forces. Dr. Mahdy said they all had low weight when they arrived at Al-Arish, ranging from 1-2.3 kilograms (2.2 lbs – 5 lbs).
Dr. Mahdy said some of the babies "are very critical," estimating about 10% of them are in that condition. The other infants are "less critical."
One of the struggles doctors at Al-Arish Hospital have run into is that there aren't families or mothers with most of the babies to ask about their history or the mother's history during her pregnancy. Out of 16 babies, only three mothers are accompanying four babies. Still, the doctors persevere to treat the infants.
"They may be at risk, but we are doing our best for them," Dr. Mahdy said. "We are giving them the medications they need, the feeding. You know, the babies need feeding, feeding assessment and feeding progress."
Biden, Netanyahu speak about hostages, latest developments in Gaza, White House says
President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday about the latest developments in Gaza, including the release of more hostages, the White House said.
"The President welcomed the release of hostages by Hamas over the past three days, including a young American girl. The two leaders also discussed the pause in the fighting and surge in much needed additional humanitarian assistance into Gaza," the White House said.
The Israeli prime minister's office also issued a statement following their conversation, saying they spoke with "great excitement" about the hostages who were released, including 4-year-old Abigail Idan.
"What a joy to see her with us. But on the other hand, what a pity that she returns to the reality of not having parents. She has no parents -- but she has a whole nation that embraces her and we will take care of all her needs," Netanyahu's office said.
-ABC News' Justin Ryan Gomez