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

Speaking from a podium in Tel Aviv, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that he and Israeli officials had agreed on a plan to carry out a United Nations-led mission in Gaza that will pave the way for displaced Palestinians to return to their homes in the north -- a significant step toward restoring a sense of normalcy in the enclave.

"As Israel's campaign moves to a lower intensity phase in northern Gaza, and as the IDF scales down its forces there, we agreed today on a plan for the U.N. to carry out an assessment mission. It will determine what needs to be done to allow displaced Palestinians to return safely to homes in the north," he said.

"Now, this is not going to happen overnight. There are serious security, infrastructure and humanitarian challenges," Blinken cautioned, later describing traps and explosives left by Hamas as a hinderance. "But the mission will start a process that evaluates these obstacles and how they can be overcome."

Blinken stressed the U.S. focus on humanitarian issues stemming from the conflict, but he also slammed a case brought by South Africa before the U.N.’s highest legal body, the International Court of Justice, which accuses Israel of carrying out genocide in Gaza, declaring that it "distracts the world" from vital efforts.

"Moreover, the charge of genocide is meritless," Blinken asserted. "It's particularly galling given that those who are attacking Israel -- Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, as well as their supporter, Iran -- continue to openly call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews."

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Secretary Blinken delivers remarks following high-level meeting in Israel

The meeting in Tel Aviv comes amid some differences between the U.S. and Israel over the war in Gaza.

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-ABC News' Shannon K. Crawford

All children under the age of 5 in the Gaza Strip -- approximately 335,000 -- are at "high risk of severe malnutrition and preventable death as the risk of famine conditions continues to increase," according to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund.

"To get children the life-saving support they desperately need, we need a humanitarian ceasefire. Now," UNICEF's Middle East and North Africa office wrote Tuesday in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

-ABC News' Zoe Magee and Morgan Winsor

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with top officials in Israel on Tuesday during his fourth visit to the Middle East since the Oct. 7 terror attack.

Blinken met first with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and then with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv. He was also expected to sit in on an Israeli war cabinet meeting.

Speaking to reporters alongside the Israeli president on Tuesday morning, Blinken said he valued Herzog's leadership during these "incredibly challenging times" for Israel and other nations in the Middle East. The U.S. secretary said he would be sharing with Israeli officials what he had heard from leaders in regional countries.

Blinken's latest weeklong trip is aimed at calming tensions across the Middle East amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the neighboring Gaza Strip. The current conflict was sparked by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7.

-ABC News' Lauren Minore, Joe Simonetti and Morgan Winsor

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