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: February 3, 2024, 4:50 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.

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.

Jan 30, 2024, 6:41 AM EST

UNRWA funding cuts threaten Palestinian lives, NGOs warn

Twenty aid organizations have joined together to express deep concern and outrage that some of the largest donors suspended funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the largest humanitarian agency in the Gaza Strip and the main provider for millions of Palestinians in the wider region.

A wave of countries, including the United States, have cut funding for UNRWA in recent days over Israel's accusations that 13 UNRWA staff members in Gaza were involved in the Oct. 7 terror attack. UNRWA said it is investigating the allegations.

In a joint statement released Monday, 20 non-governmental organizations, including Oxfam and Save the Children, urged the donor states to reverse their suspensions and warned that not doing so could lead to "a complete collapse of the already restricted humanitarian response in Gaza."

"We are shocked by the reckless decision to cut a lifeline for an entire population by some of the very countries that had called for aid in Gaza to be stepped up and for humanitarians to be protected while doing their job," the NGOs said. "This decision comes as the International Court of Justice ordered immediate and effective action to ensure the provision of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza."

The NGOs warned: "If the funding suspensions are not reversed we may see a complete collapse of the already restricted humanitarian response in Gaza."

"The suspension of funding by donor states will impact life-saving assistance for over two million civilians, over half of whom are children, who rely on UNRWA aid in Gaza," they added. "The population faces starvation, looming famine and an outbreak of disease under Israel's continued indiscriminate bombardment and deliberate deprivation of aid in Gaza."

-ABC News' Morgan Winsor

Jan 30, 2024, 5:35 AM EST

Israeli forces dressed in disguise kill 3 in raid at hospital in West Bank

The Palestinian Ministry of Health on Tuesday released security camera footage showing Israeli forces in disguise as they raid a hospital in the occupied West Bank overnight.

In the video, Israeli troops are seen dressed as doctors and patients while holding rifles and walking through the corridors of Ibn Sina Hospital in the city of Jenin. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said three people were killed during the raid, which it called a "flagrant violation of all international norms and laws."

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the overnight raid in a statement early Tuesday, saying it was a "joint" operation between the IDF, the Israel Security Agency and the Israel Police. The IDF later clarified to ABC News that its soldiers were not involved in physically carrying out the raid.

In the initial statement, the IDF said security forces "neutralized" three "terrorists" who were "hiding" inside Ibn Sina Hospital, one of whom was a member of Hamas and was allegedly planning an attack "inspired by the October 7th massacre."

"For a long time, wanted suspects have been hiding in hospitals and using them as a base for planning terrorist activities and carrying out terror attacks, while they assume that the exploitation of hospitals will serve as protection against counterterrorism activities of Israeli security forces," the IDF added. "This is another example of the cynical use of civilian areas and hospitals as shelters and human shields by terrorist organisations."

-ABC News' Helena Skinner, Joe Simonetti and Morgan Winsor

Jan 29, 2024, 3:29 PM EST

Qatari prime minister: Hostage talks in ‘much better place’ now than a few weeks ago

The Qatari prime minister said Monday that the hostage talks between Israel and Hamas are in a "much better place" now than they were "a few weeks ago,” according to Reuters.

PHOTO: 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 outside the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, Jan. 24 2024.
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

He also said he hoped the drone attack by Iran-backed militants that killed three American service members in Jordan won't derail progress that's been made on a hostage deal.

"I hope that nothing would undermine the efforts that we are doing or jeopardize that process," Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Bin Jassim Al-Thani said at a think tank event in Washington, D.C., according to Reuters. "Yet it will definitely have an impact on it and one way or another, it will have an impact on the regional security and we hope that things get contained and not to get escalated beyond control."

Jan 29, 2024, 12:30 PM EST

Israeli defense minister: Quarter of Hamas terrorists killed

One "quarter of Hamas' terrorists have been killed and at least another quarter are wounded," Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Monday while visiting troops at the Gaza border.

Gallant said fighting the remaining terrorists "will take months."

Israeli soldiers patrol in an area in Gaza's main southern city of Khan Yunis, January 27, 2024.
Nicolas Garcia/AFP via Getty Images

"On the other hand," he continued, "the terrorists don't have supplies, they don't have ammunition, they don't have reinforcements."

-ABC News’ Dana Savir