Israel-Gaza updates: IDF says 3,500 'terror targets' hammered in 10 days

"Civil order is breaking down in Gaza," a UNRWA official said.

ByABC NEWS
Last Updated: December 5, 2023, 7:13 AM EST

The temporary cease-fire between Hamas and Israel ended on Dec. 1, and Israel has resumed its bombardment of Gaza.

The end of the cease-fire came after Hamas freed over 100 of the more than 200 people its militants took hostage during the Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel. In exchange, Israel released more than 200 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.

Click here for updates from previous days.

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.

Dec 05, 2023, 6:28 AM EST

At least 30 killed in airstrike on school in southern Gaza, hospital says

Dozens of people were killed or wounded in an Israeli airstrike that allegedly targeted a school housing displaced families in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning, according to local medical staff.

A spokesperson for Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis told ABC News that it had received scores of patients from the scene, including 30 who had died and dozens who were injured.

There was no immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces.

The strike came on the heels of the IDF's announcement that it would be expanding its offensive on Gaza's militant rulers, Hamas, across the entire strip. The IDF alleges that Hamas uses civilian infrastructure in Gaza, including schools, for military activities -- claims which Hamas denies.

-ABC News' Nasser Atta and Morgan Winsor

Dec 05, 2023, 1:38 AM EST

'Nowhere is safe in Gaza': WHO

The World Health Organization painted a bleak picture of the situation in Gaza on Monday night and called for Israel "to take every possible measure to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, as per the laws of war."

According to the latest information from the WHO, there are only 18 functioning hospitals in Gaza, with three only providing first aid and the remainder just partial services.

The WHO warned thousands are likely to be cut off from health care services due to increased ground operations by Israel in southern Gaza. The open hospitals are operating beyond capacity, with the bed occupancy rate at 171% and intensive care units at 221%, the WHO said, based on data from the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
WHO workers called the situation at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis "catastrophic, with the building and hospital grounds grossly overcrowded with patients and displaced people seeking shelter."

The WHO said in a statement Monday night it has recorded 203 "attacks on hospitals, ambulances, medical supplies, and the detention of health-care workers attacks on hospitals, ambulances medical supplies" between Oct. 7 and Nov. 28.

"This is unacceptable," the WHO's statement read. "There are means to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, and they should be instituted."

-ABC News' Jolie Lash and Jade Coburn

Dec 04, 2023, 4:41 PM EST

Israeli ground forces working to 'encircle' key southern city in Gaza

Israeli ground forces are now operating "in and around" the key southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, an Israeli military official confirmed to ABC News.

The official said the IDF's "intention" was to "encircle" the city and "eradicate Hamas strongholds within it."

A Palestinian man stands at the site of a house destroyed in an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Dec. 4, 2023.
Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters

-ABC News' Tom Soufi Burridge

Dec 04, 2023, 4:01 PM EST

US still working with counterparts to secure release of hostages

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the U.S. is still having "intensive discussions" with "Israel, Qatar and Egypt about how to best get traction on a strategy that will get all the hostages out."

Mia Schem reunites with her mother and brother following her release after being held hostage by the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Hatzerim military base in Israel, Nov. 30, 2023.
Prime Minister's Office via Reuters

“The President and I, along with Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken and [CIA] Director [William] Burns, will stay in touch with our Israeli and Qatari counterparts, as well as our Egyptian counterparts, to press Hamas on this issue," Sullivan said. "Right now, Hamas is refusing to release civilian women who should have been part of the agreement. And it is that refusal by Hamas that has caused the end of the hostage agreement, and therefore, the end of the pause in hostilities."

Over 100 people remain hostage in Gaza. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Sunday the U.S. thinks "about eight" Americans remain hostage.

"Of course, for the United States, the paramount priority is getting the American hostages out and we are talking to the president about all of his options in terms of securing the release of American hostages," Sullivan said. "Beyond that, I'm not going to comment because we need to be able to have those sensitive, diplomatic discussions behind closed doors."

Hostages who were abducted by Hamas gunmen during the October 7 attack on Israel are handed over by Hamas militants to the International Red Cross in the Gaza Strip, Nov. 29, 2023.
Al-qassam Brigades via Reuters

-ABC News' Molly Nagle

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