Israeli forces raid Gaza hospital seeking Hamas

Palestinians search for survivors after an Israeli strike on a building in Jabaliya refugee camp, Gaza Strip, Nov 14, 2023. [AP Photo]

The president also said he believes hostages being held by Hamas militants in Gaza are going to be released, but he gave no timetable.

"I have been talking to people involved every single day," Biden told reporters at the White House. "I believe it is going happen, but I don't want to get into details."

He sent a message to the estimated 240 hostages being held by U.S.-designated terror group Hamas: "Hang in there. We are coming."

The U.S. says that among the hostages are nine Americans and a foreign national with U.S. employment rights.

Death toll

Palestinian authorities in Gaza say more than 11,000 people - about 40% of them children - have been killed since Israel launched a major air and ground offensive in response to the attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel on October 7 that left 1,200 people dead. About 240 people were kidnapped and are currently being held hostage by Hamas.

The United Nations humanitarian office said Tuesday that more than two-thirds of Gaza's population of 2.3 million have fled their homes since the war began.

The Israeli military on Tuesday confirmed the death of a 19-year-old soldier who was captured in the October 7 attacks.

The military wing of Hamas issued a video Monday of a woman who identified herself as Noa Marciano. She said she had been held in Gaza for four days and urged Israel to end the bombing campaign. The video then showed still images of the woman's lifeless, bloodstained body lying on a sheet. Hamas said she had been killed by Israeli airstrikes last Thursday.

Israel's military confirmed the video was of Marciano, who was attached to a unit deployed at the Israel-Gaza border.

The Israeli military said it has seized several government facilities in Gaza City, including the territory's legislature building, the Hamas police headquarters and a compound housing Hamas' military intelligence headquarters.

"In every location, the enemy forces were eliminated, the location was demolished," an Israeli commander said.

But as its military incursion advances, Israel has rejected growing and intense international pressure to impose a cease-fire to allow for the delivery of critically needed humanitarian aid to Gaza. But it has agreed to four-hour daily humanitarian pauses to allow the opening of two corridors to let Palestinians evacuate northern Gaza.

The NSC's Kirby said Tuesday that in the past 24 hours around 115 more trucks carrying humanitarian aid were able to enter Gaza, bringing the total to 1,100.