Israel-Gaza updates: US ambassador to Israel demands return of hostages

Just before he departed Saudi Arabia for Israel, Secretary of State Antony Blinken outlined what he hoped to accomplish during his time in the country.

Blinken said that while he was on the ground, he would have an opportunity to relate what he had heard in meetings during his several previous stops in the Arab world, as well as "talk to them about the future direction of their military campaign in Gaza."

"I will press on the absolute imperative to do more to protect civilians and to do more to make sure that humanitarian assistance is getting into the hands of those who need it," he said.

Summarizing his trip so far, he said that he found a united front among leaders in Turkey, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

"Everywhere I went, I found leaders who are determined to prevent the conflict that we're facing now from spreading, doing everything possible to deter escalation -- to prevent a widening of the conflict," he said, adding they also agreed on the importance of Israel's security, and that the West Bank and Gaza should be united as one state led by Palestinian governance.

-ABC News' Shannon K. Crawford

A Hezbollah leader issued a threat to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after his visit to the Lebanon border on Monday.

"If you want a large-scale war in which you attack our country, we will go to the end and we are not afraid of your threats, your bombing, or your aggression, and we have prepared for you what you never imagined," Muhammad Raad, head of the Hezbollah bloc of Lebanese parliament, said.

Israel said it hit military targets in southern Lebanon on Monday amid skirmishes that have been ongoing since October.

Netanyahu visited Kiryat Shmona, a city in northern Israel near the Lebanon border, on Monday, where he said Hezbollah got Israelis wrong in 2006 -- a reference to the 34-day war between the two countries. He also added that he hopes to return Israeli evacuees to the region.

"We will do everything to restore security to the north and allow your families, because many of you are local, to return home safely and know that we cannot be messed with," Netanyahu said. "We will do whatever it takes. Of course, we prefer that this be done without a wide campaign, but that will not stop us."

-ABC News' Jordana Miller and Nasser Atta

President Joe Biden's speech at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina on Monday was interrupted by a handful of protesters who shouted, "Cease-fire now!"

Biden responded to the interruption by saying, “I understand their passion. And I've been quietly working … with [the] Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza, using all I can to do.”

-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Libby Cathey and Fritz Farrow

Such fighting would "cause even more insecurity and suffering," Blinken told reporters in Doha, Qatar, alongside Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

Blinken is roughly halfway through a nine-stop tour around the Middle East, his fourth diplomatic mission since the war began after Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel killed 1,200.

Looking ahead to his meetings with Israeli leaders in Tel Aviv and the West Bank set for early this week, Blinken said Sunday, "I will also raise the imperative of doing more to prevent civilian casualties. Far too many Palestinians, innocent Palestinians, have already been killed."

The secretary of state, like other U.S. officials including President Joe Biden, have sought to stress their support for Israel's retaliatory operations against Hamas while calling for Israel to do as much as possible to curb civilian casualties in light of the ongoing onslaught in Gaza and high death toll.