Israel-Gaza updates: Israel says it agrees to cease-fire, hostage release

Israel is still pushing forward with plans to enter Rafah.

ByABC NEWS
Last Updated: February 24, 2024, 4:30 PM EST

More than four months 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.

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Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing.
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.

Feb 18, 2024, 5:59 AM EST

Gaza's Nasser Hospital no longer 'functional,' WHO chief says

Nasser Hospital "is not functional anymore" after Israeli forces raided the facility in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, the head of the World Health Organization said.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the U.N. health agency, said a WHO team was not allowed to enter the facility in the city of Khan Younis on Friday or Saturday "to assess the conditions of the patients and critical medical needs, despite reaching the hospital compound to deliver fuel alongside partners."

PHOTO: A woman rests next to a damaged building, as Palestinian arrive in Rafah after they were evacuated from Nasser hospital in Khan Younis due to the Israeli ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 15, 2024.
A woman rests next to a damaged building, as Palestinian arrive in Rafah after they were evacuated from Nasser hospital in Khan Younis due to the Israeli ground operation, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 15, 2024.
Mohammed Salem/Reuters

There are still about 200 patients in the hospital, including 20 who need urgent referrals to other hospitals, the WHO chief said in a statement on X.

Israel says it has apprehended about 100 suspected terrorists in the hospital, including 20 who it says participated in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack. The military says it is looking for the remains of hostages inside the facility and does not target doctors or patients.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said a large number of medical staff were arrested by the Israel Defense Forces that turned the facility into military barracks. The facility is Gaza's largest remaining operating hospital and the strip's second-largest hospital.

-ABC News' Edward Szekeres

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