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

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.

Click here for updates from previous days.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Mar 1, 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.

Nov 04, 2023, 6:47 AM EDT

Secretary Blinken in Jordan for talks with Middle East foreign ministers

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah on Saturday and will join a meeting of foreign ministers of five Arab countries, also attended by a representative of the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas.

The prime objective of the talks is to ease Gaza’s growing humanitarian crisis, but that mission is complicated by Israel's insistence there can be no temporary cease-fire until all hostages held by Hamas are released. Israel has also presented the argument that a cease-fire would be in Hamas’s favor.

Israeli forces operate in the northern Gaza Strip, on Nov 3, 2023.
EPN via Newscom

Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has again called for an immediate cease-fire to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, saying the conditions in Gaza are now "horrific" with food and water needed along with fuel for generators that power hospitals.

The U.N.’s director for Palestinian refugees says that the average Gaza inhabitant is living on two pieces of bread made from flour the UN had stockpiled and that people in southern Gaza have been forced to do all their washing on the beach using seawater as clean water runs out.

Nov 03, 2023, 4:15 PM EDT

13 killed from strikes on ambulances at gate of Gaza hospital: Gaza Health Ministry

Thirteen people were killed and 26 were injured from a blast that struck ambulances at the gate of Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital complex, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the group of ambulances were returning to the hospital from a mission to transport injured people to the Gaza-Egypt Rafah border crossing.

The Israel Defense Forces said its aircraft hit an ambulance that it believes was being used by Hamas.

People gather around an ambulance damaged in a strike in front of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Nov. 3, 2023.
Momen Al-Halabi/AFP via Getty Images

People gather around an ambulance damaged in a reported Israeli strike in front of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Nov. 3, 2023, as battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement continue.
Momen Al-halabi/AFP via Getty Images

"We have information which demonstrates that Hamas' method of operation is to transfer terror operatives and weapons in ambulances," the IDF said.

"A number" of Hamas terrorists were killed in the blast, the IDF said.

The IDF said, "We emphasize that this area is a battle zone. Civilians in the area are repeatedly called upon to evacuate southwards for their own safety."

Nov 03, 2023, 2:13 PM EDT

Over 100 Americans and relatives left Gaza Thursday, more expected Friday

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo helped more than 100 U.S. citizens and family members who left Gaza for Egypt on Thursday, according to the White House. "Another large group of Americans" is expected to leave Gaza on Friday, the White House said.

Civilians leaving Gaza display their documents as dual national Palestinians and foreigners prepare to cross the Rafah border point with Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Nov. 2, 2023.
Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. is aware of more Americans and family members who left Gaza on Thursday and didn't seek out help from the embassy in Cairo, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

-ABC News' Justin Ryan Gomez

Nov 03, 2023, 12:28 PM EDT

Egyptian Red Crescent says it's about to run out of aid to send to Gaza

Ramy ElNazer, CEO of the Egyptian Red Crescent, warned Friday that the organization is about to run out of its stock of humanitarian aid to send to Gaza.

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