Israel-Gaza updates: Blinken, Abbas meet on restoring 'calm' in West Bank, State Department says

The top U.S. diplomat made an unannounced stop in the West Bank on Sunday.

ByABC NEWS
Last Updated: November 5, 2023, 5:13 PM EST

Thousands of people have died and thousands more have been injured since the militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel retaliated with a bombing campaign and total siege of the neighboring Gaza Strip, leaving the region on the verge of all-out war.

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Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Mar 1, 2024, 6:03 am

What we know about the conflict

The latest outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs the Gaza Strip, has passed the four-month mark.

In the Gaza Strip, at least 30,228 people have been killed and 71,377 others have been wounded by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, according to Gaza's Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health.

In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others have been injured by Hamas and other Palestinian militants since Oct. 7, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

There has also been a surge in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli forces have killed at least 395 people in the territory since Oct. 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The ongoing war began after Hamas-led militants launched an unprecedented incursion into southern Israel from neighboring Gaza via land, sea and air. Scores of people were killed while more than 200 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities. The Israeli military subsequently launched retaliatory airstrikes followed by a ground invasion of Gaza, a 140-square-mile territory where more than 2 million Palestinians have lived under a blockade imposed by Israel and supported by Egypt since Hamas came to power in 2007. Gaza, unlike Israel, has no air raid sirens or bomb shelters.

Oct 31, 2023, 1:46 PM EDT

UN secretary-general: 'I condemn the killing of civilians'

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement Tuesday that he's "deeply alarmed by the intensification of the conflict between Israel and Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in Gaza," including the Israeli military's expansion of ground operations in Gaza and continued airstrikes on Gaza.

A girl stands behind the metal mesh that covered the window of a building that was hit by Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Oct. 31, 2023.
Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images

He reiterated his call for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire, for more humanitarian assistance allowed into Gaza and for the release of the hostages held by Hamas.

He also condemned both Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the killing of civilians in Gaza.

Mourners leave flowers and candles on the grave of Yosef Vahav from Kibbutz Nir Oz in Beit Guvrin, Israel Oct. 31, 2023.
Ronen Zvulun/Reuters

"International humanitarian law establishes clear rules that cannot be ignored. It is not an a la carte menu and cannot be applied selectively. All parties must abide by it, including the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution," Guterres said. "With too many Israeli and Palestinian lives already lost, this escalation only increases the immense suffering of civilians."

-ABC News' Ellie Kaufman

Oct 31, 2023, 1:27 PM EDT

60 aid trucks crossed Rafah border Tuesday

Sixty aid trucks crossed through the Egypt-Gaza Rafah border crossing on Tuesday, two Egyptian security sources told ABC News. The trucks are headed to Nitzana, Israel, for inspection before the aid can be distributed in Gaza.

A total of 144 aid trucks have entered Gaza as the humanitarian crisis worsens, according to the Palestinian and Egyptian Red Crescent.

A displaced Palestinian boy, who fled with his family from their house amid Israeli strikes, looks after his twin siblings as they take shelter at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Oct. 29, 2023.
Mohammed Salem/Reuters

Oct 31, 2023, 11:19 AM EDT

400 US citizens want to get out of Gaza, Blinken says

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that about 400 American citizens and their family members, which totals about 1,000 people, "are stuck in Gaza and want to get out."

Blinken said Hamas is the only hurdle blocking the exit of Americans and their families.

Attorney Sammy Nabulsi, who is representing one family caught in the conflict, sits with ABC News Live Reports to talk about the dire situation in Gaza.
22:45
Hundreds of Americans trapped in GazaAttorney Sammy Nabulsi, who is representing one family caught in the conflict, sits with ABC News Live Reports to talk about the dire situation in Gaza.
ABCNews.com

"The impediment is simple -- it’s Hamas. We've not yet found a way to get them out by whatever, through whatever place, and by whatever means that Hamas is not blocking, but we're working that with intermediaries," Blinken said.

"We've been in close communication as best we can with Americans who are stuck in Gaza," he said. "We've had about 5,500 communications that we've initiated -- phone calls, emails, WhatsApp -- to be in touch with them to try to guide them as best we can, and to work for their ability to leave."

-ABC News' Shannon Crawford

Oct 31, 2023, 11:03 AM EDT

Rising antisemitism since Hamas attack part of 'preexisting' trend, DHS chief says

A rise in antisemitism since Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel is part of a "preexisting increase ... in the United States and around the world," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told a Senate committee on Tuesday.

"Hamas terrorists horrifically attacked thousands of innocent men, women and children in Israel on Oct. 7, brutally murdering, wounding, and taking hostages of all ages," Mayorkas said. "In the days and weeks since, we have responded to an increase in threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab-American communities and institutions across our country."

-ABC News' Luke Barr

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