Israel-Gaza updates: Hamas has received proposed hostage deal, Qatar says
Israel says the framework of the proposed deal has not yet been agreed upon.
ByABC NEWS
Last Updated: January 28, 2024, 2:24 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 01, 2024, 6:03 AM EST
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 28, 2024, 2:24 PM EST
'Constructive meeting' with officials but 'gaps' remain, Israeli PM's office says
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office released a statement on Sunday's talks between CIA Director Bill Burns, the prime minister of Qatar and intelligence officials from Israel and Egypt.
The meeting was "constructive" but "significant gaps" remain, the statement said, adding that more meetings are expected this coming week.
-ABC News' Jordana Miller
Jan 28, 2024, 4:40 AM EST
UN chief appeals for continued UNRWA funding
The secretary-general of the United Nations appealed on Sunday for continuing funding for the U.N. aid agency responsible for Gaza.
Nine countries, including the United States, paused their funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees after Israel accused 12 of its employees of being involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
Palestinians try to extinguish a fire at a building of an UNRWA vocational training center which displaced people use as a shelter, after being targeted by Israeli tank shill in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Jan. 24, 2024.
Ramez Habboub/AP
Mark Regev, an Israeli spokesman, told ABC News in a phone interview Sunday that Israel gathered intelligence about the alleged connection to terrorism through videos released by Hamas and others during the Oct. 7 attack and claimed there's "clear unrefutable evidence that U.N. paid staff were involved in crimes against humanity."
About 2 million people in Gaza depend on the agency for daily survival, Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement Sunday.
According to Guterres, "Of the 12 people implicated, nine were immediately identified and terminated by the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini; one is confirmed dead, and the identity of the two others is being clarified."
"The abhorrent alleged acts of these staff members must have consequences," he said in the statement.
He added, "But the tens of thousands of men and women who work for UNRWA, many in some of the most dangerous situations for humanitarian workers, should not be penalized. The dire needs of the desperate populations they serve must be met."
-ABC News' Matt Gutman, Edward Szekeres and Kevin Shalvey
Jan 27, 2024, 5:13 PM EST
9 nations suspend contributions to UNRWA due to Oct. 7 allegations
The number of nations pausing funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East has risen to 9 -- an unprecedented number for a UN agency. This withdrawal of funding comes amid allegations from Israeli officials that some of the agency's staff were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.
On Saturday, Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Finland joined the U.S., Australia and Canada in pausing funding to UNRWA.
"UNRWA lifesaving assistance is about to end following countries decisions to cut their funding to the Agency. Our humanitarian operation, on which 2 million people depend as a lifeline in Gaza, is collapsing. I am shocked such decisions are taken based on alleged behavior of a few individuals and as the war continues, needs are deepening & famine looms," the commissioner general of UNRWA said in a statement.
"Palestinians in Gaza did not need this additional collective punishment. This stains all of us," the statement said.