Israel-Gaza live updates: 'Constructive meeting' but 'gaps' remain: Israeli PM
Israel alleged several UNRWA staff members were involved in the Oct. 7 attacks.
ByABC NEWS
Last Updated: January 28, 2024, 2:21 PM EST
More than 100 days since Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7, the Israeli military continues its bombardment of the neighboring Gaza Strip.
The conflict, now the deadliest between the warring sides since Israel's founding in 1948, shows no signs of letting up soon and the brief cease-fire that allowed for over 100 hostages to be freed from Gaza remains a distant memory.
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.
Jan 25, 2024, 2:36 PM EST
CIA director to travel to Europe for hostage talks: US officials
CIA Director Bill Burns will travel to Europe soon to meet with Qatari, Egyptian and Israeli officials for talks on a potential agreement to free hostages held in Gaza in exchange for a prolonged cessation of hostilities, according to two U.S. officials.
This will be at least the third time Burns has journeyed abroad to push negotiations forward.
Women take part in a rally held under the slogan 'Women bring back the hostages', calling on the Israeli government to sign a deal for the immediate release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, outside the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, Jan. 24 2024.
Abir Sultan/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Various proposals have been discussed in recent weeks, and the two U.S. officials declined to speculate on the contours of any deal currently on the table. But the officials said the U.S. believes it is now possible to secure the release of all the remaining hostages through a single diplomatic agreement.
The officials said that securing the return of the remains of dead hostages would also be part of the negotiations.
Families of hostages and supporters hold signs during a protest to call for the immediate release of hostages kidnapped during the deadly October 7 attack by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence, in Jerusalem, Jan. 22, 2024.
Ammar Awad/Reuters
As many as six American hostages -- five citizens and one lawful permanent resident -- are still believed to be alive in Gaza. The FBI has open cases on the deaths of at least two American hostages whose bodies are believed to still be in Gaza.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Jan 25, 2024, 1:03 PM EST
Hamas leader says group will abide by any cease-fire decision issued by International Court of Justice
Hamas will abide by any cease-fire decision issued by the International Court of Justice, Hamas leader Osama Hamdan said Thursday.
The International Court of Justice is expected to issue a ruling Friday.
Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Jan. 24, 2024.
Israel Defense Forces/AFP via Getty Images
Hamdan also said Hamas will release the Israeli hostages being held in Gaza if the Israeli enemy releases its prisoners.
Jan 25, 2024, 11:52 AM EST
Woman recounts moment Israeli army penetrated Khan Younis camp: 'Afraid that our fate will be death'
Sahar Amer is married with two children, ages 2 and 4, and lives in a camp in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
"Since the beginning of the war, I have believed that this camp was safe -- a very densely populated area, and my relatives chose me as our home to seek refuge in to escape the bombing," Amer, 28, told ABC News.
Palestinians arrive in the southern Gaza town of Rafah after fleeing an Israeli ground and air offensive in the nearby city of Khan Younis, Jan. 24, 2024.
Fatima Shbair/AP
"Everything has been difficult to obtain since the beginning of the war: food, water and treatment," Amer said. "But unfortunately, what happened a week ago changed everything. The area became unsafe due to the sudden entry of [Israeli] tanks behind Nasser Hospital, which is only several meters away from us."
"During the Israeli army’s incursion behind the hospital, we lived a very terrifying night due to intense artillery shelling," she said. "I could hear the sounds of bullets flying."
A picture taken from Rafah shows smoke billowing over Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip during Israeli bombardment, Jan. 22, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
AFP via Getty Images
"Then the quadcopter planes started shooting at citizens. One time I was on the roof of the house with my children and we miraculously escaped death," Amer said.
"I did not expect the army to infiltrate in this way," she said, noting that her family "took refuge with us, believing that this area is safe and that the army cannot encircle the camp like this."
Palestinians fleeing Khan Younis, due to the Israeli ground operation, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, arrive in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Jan. 22, 2024.
Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters
One night she headed home and said she found tanks "stationed west of the camp and surround[ing] the place."
"I felt very afraid that the tanks were approaching my house,” she said. “I was hugging my children.”
Amer wanted to leave her house, but couldn’t find a car. So she took her children and they fled on foot.
"When I approached the road, a tank appeared … and prevented us from passing through,” she said. "I returned home crying and afraid that our fate will be death like the residents of other areas. I sent a message to my mother and sister to pray for me to be saved."
"I went out with great difficulty the next day. I left my home crying. I do not want to be displaced -- I want to remain safe in my home." she said. "I hope the war will end -- there is enough death and destruction."
Palestinians inspect the site of Israeli strikes on a mosque and houses, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Jan. 25, 2024.
Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters
-ABC News’ Ruwaida Amer
Jan 24, 2024, 9:54 AM EST
UN shelter reportedly hit as fighting escalates in southern Gaza
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East said Wednesday that its training center in Khan Younis where hundreds of displaced people are taking shelter "has just been hit" as fighting escalates in the southern Gaza Strip.
In a series of posts on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, the director of UNRWA’s affairs in Gaza, Tom White, wrote that "two tank rounds hit building that shelters 800 people - reports now 9 dead and 75 injured." White added that people remain trapped inside as teams from UNRWA and the World Health Organization are "trying to reach the centre," but the "agreed upon route with Israeli Army [is] blocked with earth bank."
It was unclear who was responsible for the attack on the shelter as Israeli forces battle Gaza’s militant rules, Hamas. There was no immediate comment from either of the warring sides.
