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

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the West Bank on Sunday, meeting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in an unannounced stop, the State Department said.

The two "discussed efforts to restore calm and stability in the West Bank, including the need to stop extremist violence against Palestinians and hold those accountable responsible," spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

In a meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan on Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken "underscored our shared commitment to the protection of civilians" and the need for "increased, sustained" humanitarian aid in Gaza, the State Department said.

"Secretary Blinken also expressed concern regarding the increasing violence in the West Bank and emphasized the U.S. commitment to working with partners towards a durable and sustainable peace in the region, to include the establishment of a Palestinian state, a shared priority of both the United States and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan," department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

The secretary had earlier on Saturday met with his Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts. The U.S. and those countries share "the same fundamental interest and objective: to end this conflict in a way that ensures lasting peace and security in the region," Blinken told reporters.

He said he also spoke with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi about ways to accelerate humanitarian aid to Gaza and protect Palestinian civilians.

"The United States supports Israel's right to defense against Hamas, a terrorist organization that attacked it brutally and that cares not a whit about the Palestinian people or their futures," Blinken said. "This is the same right that each of our countries has. But as Israel conducts its campaign, how it does it matters."

Blinken is expected on Sunday to arrive in Ankara, Turkey, where he's scheduled to meet with President Recep Tayyep Erdoğan and other local officials.

President Joe Biden on Saturday said progress was being made on a humanitarian pause -- something his administration has pushed for to get hostages out and aid into Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Answering a shouted question on if progress was being made, Biden gave a thumbs up and said, "Yes," as he was departing church in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed U.S. support for temporary pauses in the Israel-Hamas war during remarks at a summit in Jordan on Saturday. He again rejected the idea of a ceasefire being promoted by many Middle Eastern officials at the summit in Amman.

"It's our view that a ceasefire now would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on Oct. 7. And you don't have to take my word for it -- just a few days ago that a senior Hamas official said it was their intent to do Oct. 7 again and again and again," Blinken said. "No nation would accept that. None of us would find that tolerable."

The remarks capped off an afternoon of talks with Egyptian, Jordanian, Saudi, Qatari and Emirati diplomats and a senior Palestinian official.

Despite the divide, Blinken thanked the other officials for their partnership.

"We appreciate the engagement of every country, and we're particularly grateful to Jordan and to Egypt," said Blinken, noting that both countries have "long worked toward a two-state solution," which he later called "the sole viable solution" to the overarching conflict.

-ABC News' Fritz Farrow and Shannon K. Crawford

Hamas' military arm, al-Qassam Brigades, claimed Saturday that 60 Israeli hostages have been killed in the Israel Defense Forces' bombing of Gaza since Oct. 7.

It further claimed that 23 of the hostages' bodies are missing in the rubble from the airstrikes.

Hamas is believed to be holding 241 captives, according to Israeli officials.