The Latest | Families of hostages held in Gaza launch a 4-day march to demand their freedom

The families of hostages held in Gaza and their supporters are launching a four-day march from southern Israel to Jerusalem to demand their loved ones be set free.

The march comes as negotiations are underway in Qatar to bring about a deal between Hamas and Israel that would lead to a cease-fire in exchange for the release of hostages. U.S. President Joe Biden has said such a deal was at hand but officials from Israel and Hamas were skeptical of his optimism.

Negotiators from the U.S., Egypt and Qatar are working on a framework deal under which Hamas would free some of the dozens of hostages it holds in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners and a six-week halt in fighting. During the temporary pause, negotiations would continue over the release of the remaining hostages.

The war has unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and sparked global concern over the situation in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost town along the border with Egypt, where 1.4 million Palestinians have sought safety from Israel's daily bombardments.

Nearly 30,000 Palestinians have been killed after almost five months of Israel's war in the Gaza Strip, according to the Health Ministry, which does not distinguish in its count between fighters and noncombatants. Israel says it has killed 10,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war began after Hamas-led militants stormed across southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 others hostage.

Currently:

— Food aid reaches north Gaza for first time in weeks, and Israeli hostages’ families push for release.

— U.S. sanctions Iranian deputy commander, Houthi member and ships that transport Iranian oil.

— Qatar’s emir to discuss Gaza and hostages with Macron during a state visit to France.

— Biden implores Congress to avoid a government shutdown, send urgent aid to Ukraine and Israel.

— Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.

Here's the latest:

CANADA SAYS IT'S WORKING TO AIRDROP AID TO THE GAZA STRIP AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

OTTAWA, Ontario — Canada is working to airdrop humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip as soon as possible, Canadian International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen said Wednesday.

He said the provision of airdrops in partnership with like-minded countries in the region, such as Jordan, was on the table.

Hussen said last week that the provision of aid is nowhere near what’s needed and a tedious inspection process was slowing down the movement of supplies brought in by truck. He made the comments following a trip to the Rafah border crossing, the only way in or out of the Gaza Strip since the Israel-Hamas war began in October.

Canada has put $100 million Canadian ($74 million) toward aid for the besieged territory since the start of the conflict, including $40 million Canadian ($30 million) committed in January.

UN SAYS IT'S NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO AID PALESTINIANS IN GAZA DURING CONTINUOUS CONFLICT

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations says it’s almost impossible to provide humanitarian aid to more than a million Palestinians in Gaza during the ongoing conflict, responding to Israeli claims blaming the U.N. for failing to deliver assistance to civilians in need of food, water and medicine.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters Wednesday that there is a breakdown of law and order in Gaza, and “insufficient coordination” with Israel on security and deconfliction, which puts the lives of U.N. staff and other humanitarian workers at risk.

“That’s why we’ve repeatedly asked for a humanitarian ceasefire,” he said.

Dujarric was asked about comments Tuesday by Israel’s deputy U.N. ambassador Brett Miller blaming the U.N. for refusing to deliver aid to northern Gaza, and some U.N. officials of trying to shift the blame for the current humanitarian crisis to Israel.

Miller said in recent days 508 trucks have been waiting to cross into Gaza with Israeli approval. “So where is the U.N. and its aid agencies? How can it be that Israel is libelously held responsible for a situation that is clearly the U.N.’s fault?” he asked.

He spoke after top U.N. officials told the council that at least one quarter of Gaza’s population — 576,000 people — are one step away from famine and virtually the entire population needs food, resulting in some aid trucks being shot at, looted and overwhelmed by desperately hungry people.

Dujarric countered the Israeli claims, saying large trucks entering Gaza have to be unloaded and reloaded onto smaller Palestinian trucks, and there aren’t enough of them, and there’s a lack of security to distribute aid in Gaza.

Nonetheless, he said, U.N., Palestinian and other humanitarian staff are still “putting their lives at risk to distribute humanitarian aid wherever they can.” But he called it “an opportunistic distribution as opposed to one that should be better funded, better organized and more efficient if there was a ceasefire.”

Dujarric said the U.N. has been pressing for more access into Gaza and more roads within Gaza with security to deliver humanitarian aid.

With the war soon entering its fifth month, he said, “the challenges are life-threatening for those who distribute the aid and they’re life-threatening for those who are trying to receive the aid."

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This entry has been updated to correct a quote from U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric. He said “... and they're life-threatening for those who are trying to receive the aid,” not, “... and no less threatening for those who are trying to receive the aid.”

ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER ASKS GOVERNMENT TO INCLUDE ULTRA-ORT

HODOX JEWS IN NEW MILITARY DRAFT LAW

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant implored the government to come up with a new draft law that would force ultra-Orthodox Jews to serve in the military, saying the ongoing war in Gaza leaves the country with “no other choice.”

Military service is compulsory for Jewish males, but politically powerful ultra-Orthodox parties have won exemptions for their communities to allow men to study full-time in religious seminaries. This has prompted widespread anger and resentment from the secular majority.

“The Torah has protected Judaism for 2,500 years; however, without our physical existence, there’s no spiritual existence,” Gallant said during a press conference Wednesday evening. He said that in the current security situation, with a war in Gaza dragging toward its fifth month and tensions rising on the northern border with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, “every sector of the country needs to work together to protect our home.” Gallant added that he would be extending the enlistment and reserve duty requirements for the military as well.

There are approximately 60,000 ultra-Orthodox males of military age that are not serving, according to Hiddush, an organization that promotes religious equality. Israel mobilized some 300,000 reservists after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

On Monday, Israel’s Supreme Court began hearing arguments about a new draft law. Gallant noted that Israel’s courts have been hearing arguments over more equal draft laws for more than 25 years and stressed that Israel’s unprecedented security situation required the government to take firm action. The government is required to submit a new draft law in the coming months, based on a court decision from last year.

Ultra-Orthodox parties, which are a key coalition partner of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, hope to continue the system of exemptions. Opponents, including key members of a mass protest movement against Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul, say the exemptions are unfair and must end.

In the past, attempts to overhaul the draft law to include ultra-Orthodox have drawn tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox to the streets in large, violent protests that blocked major roadways. On Monday, thousands of ultra-Orthodox scuffled with police in Jerusalem, blocking traffic for a few hours.

PALESTINIAN OFFICIAL SAYS TIME NOT RIGHT FOR COALITION GOVERNMENT

GENEVA — The Palestinian foreign minister says he believes Hamas supports the creation of a “technocratic government” but insists the militant group shouldn’t be included in any coalition government — for now.

Riad al-Malki, speaking two days after Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh announced his resignation, said that a new government should take responsibility for both the West Bank and Gaza – and that the outgoing one was not seen as “prepared for that responsibility.”

Al-Malki spoke to reporters Wednesday at the United Nations in Geneva, where he was attending a session of the Human Rights Council amid the blistering Israeli military campaign against Hamas after the deadly Oct. 7 attacks in Israel.

The Palestinian Authority, which al-Malki represents, runs autonomous pockets of the Israeli-occupied West Bank but not Gaza, which has been under the control of Hamas since 2007. Hamas has called for all the Palestinian factions to come together to form a government.

Al-Malki said the time was not ripe for a coalition government, suggesting that key donor countries would boycott it were it to include Hamas.

Later, “when the situation is right,” he said, “we could contemplate that option,” though the priority for now is to end the “insane” war in Gaza and protect the Palestinian people. The Israeli government has called for the destruction of Hamas.

Al-Malki said a halt to displacement — the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes — and building international political support were important, and “Hamas should understand this.”

“And I do believe that they are in support of the idea to establish today a technocratic government,” he added.