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 30, 2024, 4:23 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 30, 2024, 4:23 PM EST
US details money earmarked for UNRWA held up by pause
For the first time, a member of the Biden administration Tuesday offered some detail on how many U.S. dollars earmarked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East are held up under the current pause.
"We have provided in this fiscal year already $121 million to UNRWA," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said. "We have remaining about $300,000 -- a little more than $300,000 -- in funds that we were planning to provide to UNRWA. That funding has been suspended. That would not be the total of our funding in this fiscal year."
Smoke rises during an Israeli ground offensive, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Khan Younis as seen from Rafah, southern Gaza Strip Jan. 29, 2024.
Mohammed Salem/Reuters
Miller went on to say that it was "really impossible" to say what the total amount for the fiscal year would be due to operating under a continuing resolution, and he did not know what its exact budget would be, but that historically the Biden administration had provided "somewhere between" $300 million and $400 million a year.
Nine countries, including the U.S., have paused funding for the UNRWA in wake of allegations that some UNRWA employees were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. The commissioner-general of UNRWA is investigating.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Jan 30, 2024, 3:11 PM EST
Israel channeling water into Gaza tunnels
The Israel Defense Forces said its soldiers are sending "large volumes of water" into Gaza tunnels to try to stop terrorist infrastructure.
"The pumping of water was only carried out in tunnel routes and locations that were suitable, matching the method of operation to each case," the IDF said in a statement. "This project was developed following combat procedures, accelerated force-building efforts, and while training forces with technological expertise."
"This tool represents a significant engineering and technological breakthrough in combating the threat of underground terror infrastructure and is the result of a collaborative effort between various bodies in Israel’s security establishment," the IDF added.
Jan 30, 2024, 12:52 PM EST
Proposed hostage deal includes at least 6-week pause in hostilities: US officials
The latest proposed hostage deal includes an at least six-week pause in hostilities, during which the remaining civilian hostages in Gaza would be returned in phases, with the elderly, women and any remaining children released first, two U.S. officials confirmed to ABC News.
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
When the six-week truce nears the end, the framework calls for the parties to begin discussing: the return of all Israeli soldiers detained by Hamas; paving the way for all hostages in Gaza to be freed; and possibly extending the pause, the U.S. officials said.
The framework also includes the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel and additional humanitarian provisions for civilians in Gaza, the officials said.
Palestinians search for bodies and survivors among the rubble of a destroyed house following Israeli airstrikes in Deir Al Balah, Gaza Strip, Jan. 29, 2024.
Mohammed Saber/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
According to an Israeli source, Israel has rejected this current hostage and cease-fire deal on the table.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Tuesday the group is studying a proposal for a hostage and cease-fire deal that was put forward during talks this weekend in Paris. He said he would visit Egypt to discuss the plan and ways to implement it.
Smoke from bombardment billows in the background as displaced Palestinians flee from Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, Jan. 30, 2024.
Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images
Qatar's Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani said there is progress in the ongoing negotiations.
The White House is expressing confidence to secure the release of the remaining hostages being held by Hamas even after Israel rejected the current deal.
"The president's view is we got to continue to do everything we can to get those hostages out," National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Tuesday. "We are making progress on trying to get an extended pause in place so that we can get those hostages out. And the president's not going to wait on that."
Kirby would not say if President Joe Biden was disappointed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not release thousands of prisoners and pull troops out of Gaza as part of the deal.
Mourners react next to the body of a Palestinian killed in an Israeli raid, at a hospital in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Jan. 30, 2024.
Raneen Sawafta/Reuters
"I think we’ll let the prime minister speak for himself. There's no reason for us to change course here. We still believe that this is the right thing to do," he said.
Kirby said national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Amir Sheikh Al Thani of Qatar Tuesday to discuss the war and efforts to get a hostage deal in place. Sullivan is also meeting Tuesday with the families of hostages being held by Hamas.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Justin Gomez
Jan 30, 2024, 12:08 PM EST
Israel rejects current hostage deal on the table: Israeli source
Israel has rejected the current hostage and cease-fire deal that was on the table, an Israeli source told ABC News Tuesday.
The deal included the release of women, the elderly and the injured hostages. This is likely to be the terms of the first round of a future deal, the source said.
An Israeli soldier passes by a wall with photos of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Jan. 30, 2024 in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Amir Levy/Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday, "I hear talk about all kinds of deals. I would like to make it clear: We will not conclude this war without achieving all of its goals. This means eliminating Hamas, returning all of our hostages and ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israel.”
Meanwhile, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Tuesday the group is studying a proposal for a hostage and cease-fire deal that was put forward during talks this weekend in Paris. He said he would visit Egypt to discuss the plan and ways to implement it.
An Israeli battle tank is deployed to guard a position as displaced Palestinians flee from Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, Jan. 30, 2024.
Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller, Ayat Al-Tawy and Dana Savir