The bodies of 13 deceased hostages are believed to still be in Gaza.
U.S. officials -- including Vice President JD Vance, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner -- traveled to Israel this week for high-level meetings, discussing the next steps in the delicate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Israel has accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire deal by withholding the bodies of the remaining 13 deceased hostages thought to have died during or after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas has said the return of the remaining bodies "may take some time" due to the destruction.
Hospitals in Gaza recorded 57 Palestinian deaths over the last 24 hours due to strikes from the Israel Defense Forces, Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health said. Out of those 57 people, 45 were directly targeted by the strikes and 12 people were recovered from under the rubble.
Another 158 people were taken to hospitals in Gaza with injuries, the Ministry of Health said.
United States Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Senior Advisor to the U.S. President Jared Kushner have arrived in Israel, two sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
-ABC News' Somayeh Malekian and Jordana Miller
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz asked the Israel Defense Forces to send a clear message to Hamas, urging their forces to immediately leave areas beyond the Yellow Line, adding that anyone who remain in the area will be targeted.
The IDF said it now believes the deadly attack in Rafah on Sunday was carried out by militants still in tunnels under Rafah, which is why Katz is calling for Hamas to evacuate the area controlled by IDF.
-ABC News' Somayeh Malekian and Jordana Miller
Two Israeli soldiers were killed "in combat" in southern Gaza on Sunday, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Maj. Yaniv Kula, 26, and Staff Sgt. Itay Yavetz, 21, were killed in fighting in southern Gaza, according to the IDF. A reserve Israeli soldier in the Combat Engineering Heavy Equipment Unit was severely injured in the fighting in southern Gaza, the IDF also said.
The injured soldier, whose name was not released, was evacuated to a hospital for medical treatment and his family has been notified, according to the IDF.
Details were not released regarding how the Kula and Yavetz were killed, nor how the reserve soldier was injured.
-ABC News' Jordana Miller
