Israel-Gaza live updates: IDF says it's discovered one of Hamas' biggest tunnels under Gaza

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said at a press conference in Tel Aviv on Friday that it doesn't make sense for Israel to occupy Gaza and that Israel has indicated it does not have long term plans to do so.

Sullivan said the fight against Hamas could take months, but he didn't offer up any details about if the war's intensity will shift gears.

As for the war’s impact on civilians in Gaza, Sullivan said, “The terrorists chose to embed themselves among civilians -- and that creates an incredible burden on the IDF.”

“That burden does not lessen the IDF's responsibility to weigh the distinguishes between terrorist targets and innocent people and to take every precaution to protect civilians and loss of life,” he continued. “It also doesn't lessen the burden, by the way, to ensure that humanitarian assistance flows in sufficient quantities that the Palestinian people have access to the food, water, medicine, sanitation, that they don't just need, that they deserve, as a basic matter of dignity, of human beings.”

“Israel has the right to go after Hamas in these difficult circumstances, and also has a responsibility to do so in a way that comports with our values, with international humanitarian law, and with the strategic necessity to see the fundamental difference between innocent Palestinian people and these evil terrorists of Hamas,” he said.

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Former US ambassador to Israel on the conflict in GazaABC News’ Linsey Davis spoke with former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, James Cunningham, on the United States’ latest message to Israel.

ABCNews.com

-ABC News’ Britt Clennett

President Joe Biden spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyıp Erdoğan Thursday on a wide variety of topics including the latest developments in the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to the White House.

"President Biden reiterated his support for Israel’s right to defend itself. The leaders also discussed efforts to increase humanitarian assistance to Gaza and protect civilians and the need for a political horizon for the Palestinian people," the White House said in a readout of the conversation.

-ABC News' Fritz Farrow

Israeli Minister of Health Uriel Buso and Director-General of the Ministry of Health Moshe Bar Siman Tov met Thursday with the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross to stress that the health of the hostages in Gaza is deteriorating by the day.

Israeli officials said they're calling for the ICRC to visit the hostages held by Hamas immediately to ensure they receive life-saving medical care.

"Hamas has already proven to the world that [it] does not hesitate to commit crimes against humanity, including against the elderly, women and children," Buso said. "We expect the president and the organization to do everything possible to end the suffering of the hostages and their families immediately."

There are 114 hostages believed to be alive or unaccounted for in Gaza, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office. Twenty-one hostages were believed to have been killed in captivity and their bodies remain in Gaza, the government said.

Raz Ben Ami was released from Hamas captivity two weeks ago, but her pain is far from over as her husband, Ohad, is still being held hostage.

"I’m not OK," she told ABC News in an exclusive interview.

"How can I be OK when he is there and I’m here?" she said. "We want our family back together."

Ben Ami and her husband were kidnapped separately from Kibbutz Be’eri. She said she tried to hide when she heard militants storming into her home and kidnapping her husband, but they found her and took her to Gaza on the back of a motorcycle.

She hasn’t shared the details of her time in captivity with her two daughters.

"She’s very afraid," said one of her daughters, Ella Ben Ami. "I can just imagine what Hamas did to her."

The mother and daughters said they will keep fighting for Ohad’s return by joining rallies and speaking to government officials.

"We’re here every night. That’s all we can do. What else can we do? Wait and hope," Raz Ben Ami said.

-ABC News’ Ines De La Cuetara