Israel-Gaza updates: Gantz rejects Netanyahu's request, resigns

He said Netanyahu is "preventing us from progressing towards a true victory."

As the Israel-Hamas war continues, negotiations are apparently stalled to secure the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization, and Israeli forces continue to launch incursions in the southern Gazan town of Rafah ahead of a possible large-scale invasion.


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Biden, Macron welcome rescue of hostages

President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the rescue of the hostages at a press briefing Saturday.

Biden welcomed the safe return of four hostages from Gaza, pledging that the United States will not stop working until all hostages are home.

"I want to echo President Macron’s comments welcoming the safe rescue of four hostages that were returned to their families in Israel. We won't stop working until all the hostages come home and a ceasefire is reached. That is essential to happen,” Biden said.

President Macron spoke before President Biden, also celebrating the news.

“In Gaza, we want to attain the immediate liberation of hostages and we can only welcome the liberation of four hostages by the Israeli army. We want to achieve the immediate ceasefire and open up the prospect of a political solution which is the only one that can bring about a fair and lasting peace and meet the security of concerns of both people,” Macron said.

“And that is why we are supporting the comprehensive proposal of the United States of America,” he added, calling on Israel to do more to assist humanitarian aid to Rafah, calling the situation “unacceptable.”

-ABC News’ Molly Nagle and Michelle Stoddart


Central Gaza death toll rises to 150

At least 150 Palestinians were killed in Israeli bombing targeting Nuseirat, in central Gaza, Saturday, according the Ministry of Health.

One video verified by ABC News shows about a dozen bodies lying on the street, covered in blood and surrounded by rubble.

Others show people fleeing Nuseirat market as smoke fills the background, and people arriving at the hospital in droves, carrying wounded people and children.


Gaza hospital receives 55 dead bodies amid Israeli raid on central Gaza

Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital says it received 55 bodies Saturday amid the Israeli raid on central Gaza, calling on people to come to donate blood, according to a spokesperson.

The hospital is overcrowded and cannot accommodate any more injured people, it said.

“We call on the international community and UN organizations to intervene to stop this brutal aggression,” the hospital said in a statement.

-ABC News’s Victoria Beaule


47 killed in Central Gaza amid Israeli raid

At least 47 Palestinians have been killed and dozens others were wounded in Central Gaza Saturday amid ongoing Israeli raids in Nuseirat, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, with ambulance and civil defense crews unable to reach them.

"The occupation forces penetrating into the Central Governorate are committing a massacre against citizens in the Nuseirat camp, as a result of which many martyrs and wounded were transported to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital," the Health Ministry said.

At least 36,801 Palestinians have been killed and 83,680 have been wounded since Oct. 7, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Videos obtained by ABC News from the hospital show dozens of people being brought in and lining the floors of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

-ABC News' Samy Zyara and Nasser Atta


Israeli government says it wasn’t told Biden would mention permanent cease-fire

An Israeli government official said the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office wasn’t informed that President Joe Biden’s Friday remarks would include a permanent end to the fighting.

“If you listen to what Biden said, you come to the impression that we agree to a permanent cease-fire without, or, without our conditions being met, and that's not the case,” the official said.

The official said the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was informed 30 minutes before that Biden was giving a speech. The official said Netanyahu was told that the speech would focus on the hostages, with no mention of implementing a permanent cease-fire.

A senior U.S. official said the Biden administration "engaged with the Israelis at multiple levels before the president delivered the speech." The official said the U.S. specifically engaged with the Israeli Prime Minister's Office and the Israeli war cabinet.

The official also pointed to when Biden said in his speech that it was a proposal that the Israelis agreed to. The official noted that Netanyahu himself said that it was an Israeli proposal.

An Israeli official and two other Israeli sources who are familiar with the matter told ABC News that what Biden presented is indeed the outline of the Israeli proposal. The sources said the proposal was approved by all war cabinet members, including Netanyahu, and sent to the mediators earlier in the week.

The sources added that there are “interpretation gaps,” referring to the way the outline was presented by Biden.

Biden presented on Friday what he said was an Israeli proposal to draw the war in Gaza to a close.

Biden said the deal had been transmitted to Israel and Hamas, through Qatar.

The president said the first phase would last for six weeks and include a "full and complete cease-fire, a withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza [and] release of a number of hostages." Palestinians would also be able to return to their homes and 600 trucks of humanitarian aid would be delivered to Gaza every day.

The second phase would include a release of all remaining living hostages and the temporary cease-fire would become a permanent cease-fire with Israel withdrawing all forces from Gaza "as long as Hamas lives up to its commitments," Biden said.

In phase three, there would be a major reconstruction of Gaza.

-ABC News’ Britt Clennett, Dana Savir and Michelle Stoddart