Live updates from Israel and Gaza: IDF close to dismantling Hamas’ Rafah Brigade

In a speech to the Israeli parliament on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he remained “supportive” of President Joe Biden’s proposal for a hostage-taking and ceasefire in Israel.

“We will not end the war until we return all the abductees – 120 abductees – both the living and the dead. We stand by the Israeli proposal, which President Biden welcomed. Our position has not changed,” Netanyahu said.

He added: “We will not end the war until we have destroyed Hamas and until we have returned the residents of the south and the north safely to their homes. … (And) we will thwart Iran’s intentions to destroy us.”

Senior Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya told Al Jazeera on Monday evening: “Netanyahu’s statements have confirmed our view that he does not want a ceasefire or the return of (Israeli) prisoners. … Netanyahu’s real position is that he wants to bring back his prisoners and continue the war.”

“We are ready for genuine negotiations if Netanyahu adheres to the principles outlined by President Biden,” he said. “We are ready for negotiations that lead to a cessation of aggression and a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.”

-Will Gretsky of ABC News

According to the humanitarian organization Save the Children, the number of children missing or separated from their families in Gaza may be as high as 21,000.

The organization, which has been assisting Palestinian children in the region since 1953, reports that 17,000 children are believed to be unaccompanied and separated from their parents, and another 4,000 children are believed to be buried under the rubble, according to data from the United Nations and the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza.

“Children who are missing but still alive are vulnerable, need to be found and face great danger. They must be protected and reunited with their families,” said Jeremy Stoner, Save the Children’s Middle East Regional Director. “The deaths of children killed must be officially marked, their families informed, burial rites respected and those responsible held accountable.”

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-Kiara Alfonseca of ABC News

U.S. State Department spokesman Matt Miller said Secretary of State Antony Blinken will emphasize several points during his ongoing meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday afternoon.

“First and foremost is our continued commitment to Israel’s security,” Miller said. “Secondly, is the importance of Israel developing robust, realistic post-conflict plans that provide a path toward order, security and reconstruction.”

“He will emphasize the need to avoid further escalation of the conflict, and then he will emphasize, as always, the need to improve humanitarian access (in Gaza), where we have seen some slowdown in access in the south,” Miller continued, adding that Blinken hopes to “hear concrete commitments from (Gallant) to work on this issue.”

-Shannon Crawford of ABC News

After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that the US had slowed down its military aid to Israel, the Pentagon continues to claim that only a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs had been suspended.

“Just to clarify, we have stopped a shipment to Israel,” Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder told reporters on Monday.

“Everything else continues as planned. There are no restrictions,” he said.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who is currently in Washington, DC for talks with U.S. officials, will meet with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon on Tuesday, Ryder said.

– ABC News’ Luis Martinez