Israel-Gaza live updates: Israeli officials on reports of Russian airport protesters
Gaza's internet was 'gradually' returning on Sunday, a telecom provider said.
ByABC NEWS
Last Updated: October 29, 2023, 4:44 PM EDT
Thousands of people have died and thousands more have been injured since the militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel retaliated with a bombing campaign and total siege of the neighboring Gaza Strip, leaving the region on the verge of all-out war.
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.
Oct 27, 2023, 2:29 PM EDT
IDF says it is expanding ground operations in Gaza Friday night
The Israel Defense Forces are expanding ground activity in Gaza Friday night, a military spokesperson told reporters.
This is Israel's biggest ground operation in Gaza since the Oct. 7 attack.
Fire rises above Gaza City during an Israeli strike, Oct. 27, 2023.
AFP via Getty Images
"In recent hours we have increased the attacks in Gaza," the IDF said in a statement. "The Air Force widely attacks underground targets and terrorist infrastructure, very significantly. In continuation of the offensive activity we carried out in the last few days, the ground forces are expanding the ground activity this evening."
Oct 27, 2023, 1:26 PM EDT
Internet, cell service cut off in Gaza after barrage of strikes, telecom provider says
All internet and communications services have been cut off in Gaza following a barrage of strikes, according to the Palestinian Telecommunications Company.
"The intense bombing in the last hour destroyed all remaining international routes linking Gaza to the world," the company said in a statement. "The severe bombing led to the interruption of all communications services in the Gaza Strip."
4:23
Palestinian scholar from Gaza talks about need for cease-fire
Palestinian Jehad Abusalim speaks about the impact of the deadly conflict in Gaza.
ABCNews.com
Jawal, a Palestinian mobile company, also said all communications and internet services have been interrupted due to the "intense bombing."
Palestinian Red Crescent, a humanitarian organization, said it is unable to reach its teams due to the disruption in landline, cell and internet services.
"We are deeply concerned about the ability of our teams to continue providing their emergency medical services," the group said in a statement.
The World Health Organization said it has also lost touch with its staff in Gaza, with Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus adding, "This siege makes me gravely concerned for their safety and the immediate health risks of vulnerable patients. We urge immediate protection of all civilians and full humanitarian access."
Oct 27, 2023, 1:20 PM EDT
Harris, Emhoff meet with families of missing Americans
Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff met with families of Americans who are unaccounted for following the Oct. 7 attack in Israel and heard of their "agonizing" experiences, Harris' office said.
During the meeting at the State Department Friday morning, Harris told the families that "securing the hostages remains front and center in our diplomatic conversations," a readout from her office stated.
She also said they are working with partners in the Middle East "to ensure that any country with influence over Hamas brings that influence to bear to help secure the release of hostages," the readout stated.
Her office did not specify how many families attended the meeting.
The Biden administration said Tuesday that 10 Americans remained accounted for.
Oct 27, 2023, 11:15 AM EDT
Blasts hit 2 Egyptian Red Sea towns near border with Israel
Blasts hit two Egyptian Red Sea towns on Friday, injuring at least six people, according to the Egyptian military and state media, with Israel blaming the incidents on an "aerial threat" in the region.
Egyptian army spokesman Col. Gharib Abdel-Hafez said an "unidentified drone" crashed Friday morning into a building near a hospital in the resort town of Taba, near the border with Israel, injuring six people.
Earlier on Friday, Egyptian state-linked TV channel Al-Qahera News said a missile fired as part of the escalation in the neighboring Gaza Strip had struck a medical facility in Taba.
The channel later reported that an "unidentified body" crashed near a power station in the South Sinai resort town of Nuweiba, some 45 miles to the south.
The Israeli military said the incidents were a result of an "aerial threat" in the Red Sea region and that there were no Israeli casualties from the strike near its border.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi makes a point during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023.
Pool/via Reuters, FILE
"An aerial threat was detected in the Red Sea region, and fighterjets were called in to deal with it," the Israeli military’s Arabic spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a statement. "We estimate that the harm to Egypt was caused by this threat," he said, adding that Israel will work with Egypt and the United States to "tighten defense in the region" against such threats.
Egyptian witnesses said fighter jets have roared above the two towns since dawn.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the two incidents.
Earlier this week, a number of Egyptian border guards were injured after being hit by fragments of a shell that Israel’s army said was accidentally fired from one of its tanks. The Israel Defense Forces quickly apologized for the incident.
The recent incidents highlight the risk Egypt faces from a possible regional spillover of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza.
