Israel-Gaza updates: Biden speaks with Netanyahu about hostages' release, Gaza humanitarian assistance

With Israel and the Hamas militant group on the verge of an all-out war, "the only way out of this is an immediate cease-fire," according to veteran Palestinian activist Mustafa Barghouti.

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As bombings continue, Gazans are caught in crossfire between Israel, Hamas Mustafa Barghouti, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, joins ABC News' James Longman to break down the destruction brought to Gaza.

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"How many more thousands of children should die before they are satisfied?" Barghouti said, referring to Israel's total siege and blockade of the neighboring Gaza Strip in retaliation for Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.

Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 3,785 people, including women and children, in Hamas-ruled Gaza since Oct. 7, and now people are running out of food and water, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

In addition to an immediate cease-fire on both sides, Barghouti called for an exchange of all prisoners and the free passage of humanitarian aid for all those in Gaza "who badly need it."

"This cannot continue," he added. "Palestinians are also human beings and cannot be treated in such a manner."

-ABC News' Ibtissem Guenfoud, James Longman and Morgan Winsor

A team of high-tech experts is helping track down the people who were taken hostage or have disappeared in the wake of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

"In the last two weeks, we were really working around the clock," one of the experts, Karine Nahon, told ABC News in a telephone interview on Friday.

Currently, there are about 100 people whose whereabouts remain unknown, according to Nahon. Various experts, government agencies and volunteers have joined forces in an effort to locate them. The team is using "an array" of methods and technologies, from creating new algorithms to matching photos of the missing with videos taken by Hamas, Nahon said.

"We combine them in one space and, together, we're actually able to identify hundreds of people and what’s their status," she added.

-ABC News' Ibtissem Guenfoud, James Longman and Morgan Winsor

More than 200 trucks and over 4,000 tons of supplies are now stockpiled at the Egypt-Gaza border, according to an Egyptian official.

But the Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing remained closed.

The aid convoys will be allowed to start entering war-torn Gaza "in the next day or so," according to Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

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Aid trucks to be allowed into Gaza as humanitarian disaster deepensABC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Ian Pannell reports on the contentious negotiations over the much-needed aid for people inside Gaza.

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"We are in deep and advanced negotiations with all relevant sides to ensure that an aid operation into Gaza starts as quickly as possible and with the right conditions," Laerke told reporters in Geneva. "We are encouraged by reports that the different sides are nearing an agreement on the modalities, and that a first delivery is due to start in the next day or so."

During a press briefing in Tel Aviv, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht could not say when aid would be allowed to enter Gaza from Egypt but confirmed that an agreement had not yet been reached and the border crossing was not open.

-ABC News' Ayat Al-Tawy, Jordana Miller, Emma Ogao and Morgan Winsor

It’s not money that people in the Gaza Strip need right now, but rather food, water, medicine and other basic necessities, according to a humanitarian worker there.

"If we have money, we can’t buy anything. There's nothing to buy in the stores, it’s empty shelves," Omar Alnajjar, project manager for nonprofit Save Your Future, told ABC News in a telephone interview from the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.

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The wait for help stretches into another day at the Rafah border crossing U.S. Officials said they are still “hopeful” the Rafah gate will be opened, but a source familiar with the negotiations said efforts are now hitting multiple roadblocks.

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As Israeli forces continue to bomb "terror targets" in Gaza in retaliation for an Oct. 7 attack carried out by the Hamas militant group that governs the territory, an estimated 1 million people are displaced there, including over 520,000 people staying in "emergency shelters in increasingly dire conditions," according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

That's why it's crucial Egypt allows humanitarian aid convoys parked at its northwestern border with Gaza to cross into the war-torn territory and deliver the lifesaving supplies as soon as possible, Alnajjar said. But as of Friday afternoon, the Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing remains closed.

"People are just waiting," he added.

-ABC News' Ibtissem Guenfoud, James Longman and Morgan Winsor