In Gaza, 3,000 people have been killed and another 12,500 were injured, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Tensions are high with the prospect of ground war and evacuation orders for Gaza after the Israel Defense Forces called for "all residents of Gaza City to evacuate their homes" and "move south for their protection" early Friday, saying residents should move "and settle in the area south of the Gaza River." The announcement was made, according to the IDF, because it plans to "operate significantly in Gaza City in the coming days" and wanted "to avoid harming civilians."
Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Oct 16, 2023, 2:47 pm
Timeline: The Hamas attack and response
On the morning of Oct. 7, sirens echoed across Israel as Hamas terrorists began a full-fledged surprise attack from the air, sea and ground. Hundreds of armed Hamas fighters stormed into Israel from Gaza, charging into cities and gunning down citizens.
Friends and family mourn Dor Reder, who was killed following a deadly infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, at his funeral in Beit Kama, southern Israel, Oct. 16, 2023.
Violeta Santos Moura/Reuters
Israeli forces responded by sending wave after wave of bombs into Gaza, killing thousands, trapping civilians and raising fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East.
About 20 Americans missing in Israel: State Department
The United States is tracking about 20 Americans who are still missing in Israel, State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Tuesday.
Miller said that doesn't necessarily mean they are being held by Hamas.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel this week to work with Israeli partners directly to determine "how we can continue to best support them," Miller said.
Blinken will most likely leave on Wednesday to arrive in Israel on Thursday, he said.
Mourners comfort each other during the funeral of Israeli soldier Benjamin Loeb, a dual Israeli-French citizen, in Jerusalem, Oct. 10, 2023. Loeb was killed on Saturday as the militant Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented, multi-front attack on Israel.
Francisco Seco/AP
An Israeli firefighter kneels to compose himself after he and his colleagues extinguished cars burning after being struck by rockets fired from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon, Israel, Oct. 9, 2023.
Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
Biden has not spoken with the families of the 14 Americans killed in Israel, but the State Department has been in constant contact with their families, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday.
"The president has been making this his highest priority as he receives briefings each day about what we are doing to try to determine both what’s happening with the missing and also to ensure that we can secure the bodies of those that have perished and ensure that they get returned to their loved ones," he said.
-ABC News' Shannon Crawford and Mary Bruce
Oct 10, 2023, 3:21 PM EDT
American Airlines suspends flights through Dec. 4
American Airlines said it will suspend flights to and from Tel Aviv through Dec. 4.
Delta suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv until the end of October, while United said its flights to and from Tel Aviv are suspended "until conditions allow them to resume."
Oct 10, 2023, 2:47 PM EDT
'We stand with Israel,' Biden says
President Joe Biden said Tuesday in an address to the American people, "We stand with Israel. And we will make sure Israel has what it needs to take care of its citizens -- defend itself and respond to this attack."
President Joe Biden speaks, Oct. 10, 2023, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, about the war between Israel and the militant Palestinian group Hamas, as Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken listen.
Evan Vucci/AP
Biden stressed, "Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people's right to dignity and self-determination. Their state of purpose is the annihilation of the state of Israel on the murder of Jewish people. They use Palestinian civilians as human shields. Hamas offers nothing but terror and bloodshed, with no regard to who pays the price."
Israeli soldiers stand next to the bodies of Israelis killed by Hamas militants in kibbutz Kfar Azza on Oct. 10, 2023.
Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
Biden said among the horrors were "parents butchered, using their bodies to try to protect their children. Stomach churning reports of being babies being killed. Entire families slain. ... Women raped, assaulted, paraded as trophies."
"There's still so many families desperately waiting to hear the fate of their loved ones, not knowing if they're alive or dead or hostages," Biden said. "Infants in their mother’s arms, grandparents in wheelchairs, Holocaust survivors abducted and held hostage. Hostages whom Hamas has now threatened to execute in violation of every code of human morality."
"It's abhorrent," Biden said, adding that Hamas' "brutality ... brings to mind the worst rampages of ISIS. This is terrorism. But sadly, for the Jewish people, it's not new."
An Israeli man looks out from a window of a building that was hit following rockets from Gaza that were launched towards Israel in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Oct. 9, 2023.
Amir Cohen/Reuters
14:47
President Biden's reiterates United States support for Israel
"We will make sure the Jewish and democratic state of Israel can defend itself today and tomorrow," President Joe Biden vowed.
ABCNews.com
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier in the day.
Biden said, "We're surging additional military assistance, including ammunition and interceptors, to replenish Iron Dome. We're going to make sure that Israel does not run out of these critical assets to defend its cities and its citizens. My administration has consulted closely with Congress throughout this crisis, and when Congress returns, we're going to ask them to take urgent action to fund the national security requirements of our critical partners."
"This is a moment for the United States to come together, to grieve with those who are mourning," Biden said, adding, "There is no place for hate in America -- not against Jews, not against Muslims, not against anybody."
Oct 10, 2023, 2:26 PM EDT
Biden: 14 Americans killed in 'act of sheer evil'
At least 14 Americans have been killed in the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel, President Joe Biden said Tuesday in an address to the American people.
He condemned Hamas' incursion as an "act of sheer evil."
Israelis take cover in a shelter as a siren sounds a warning of incoming rockets fired from the Gaza strip, in Ashkelon, Israel, Oct. 10, 2023.
Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
Biden confirmed that American citizens are among those being held by Hamas.
He said he's directed his "team to share intelligence and deploy additional experts from across the United States government to consult with and advise Israeli counterparts on hostage recovery efforts."
