Israel-Gaza updates: US making progress toward escape for Americans in Gaza

Paul O'Brien, the executive director of Amnesty International USA, told ABC News Live that "there is significant evidence" that Israel is "committing war crimes" in its targeting of the Gaza Strip.

"Israel is not taking the measures that it needs to take in order to protect civilians now," O'Brien told ABC News' James Longman. "Dropping leaflets into a densely populated area and forcing people to move or threatening them if they don't is a war crime."

O'Brien pointed not just to the issue of collective punishment, but also to the "indiscriminate targeting of civilians," and demanded an immediate investigation and accountability. The executive director also said that Amnesty has denounced Hamas' actions on Oct. 7 as a war crime, but that "the answer to that is not the further commission of war crimes by the state of Israel."

5:20

Amnesty International says Israel’s evacuation orders may amount to war crimes

The group says Israel’s leaflets cannot be considered an effective warning to civilians.

ABCNews.com

In a letter released Thursday, Amnesty International Senior Crisis Response Adviser Donatella Rovera said, in part, "Amnesty International reiterates its call on the Israeli authorities to immediately rescind the forced 'evacuation' orders and to put an end to threats designed to sow fear and panic among Gaza’s civilian population. All conditions on the distribution of humanitarian aid must be urgently lifted and aid, including fuel, must be allowed into Gaza in sufficient quantities to meet the dire needs of the civilian population."

Israel has allowed in limited resources through the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt and says Hamas is stockpiling fuel that could be used for humanitarian needs in the region. Israel has also asserted it has a right to defend itself in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attack.

-ABC News' Luis Rodriguez

A potential escalation of the Israel-Hamas war and the possibility that it could widen into a regional conflict could send gas prices above $5 a gallon, trigger an overall surge of inflation and plunge the U.S. economy into a recession, economists and oil industry analysts told ABC News.

A conflict that ensnares the Middle East could send oil prices soaring, which in turn would hike costs not only for gasoline but also for many consumer products that depend on diesel and jet fuel for transport, the experts said.

Click here to read more.

-ABC News' Max Zahn

1:03

What a wider Middle East war could mean for the US economy

A war that ensnares the Gulf region could send gas prices above $5 a gallon and plunge the U.S. into a recession.

ABCNews.com

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the minister of foreign affairs for Iran, chastised the United States and issued a warning in a speech at the United Nations during an emergency session to discuss the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Amir-Abdollahian said that America was "managing the genocide" of Palestinians and "that we do not welcome the expansion of war in the region, but I warn if the genocide in Gaza continues, they will not be spared from this fire."

The U.S. has cautioned against Iran becoming directly involved in the conflict and sent two aircraft carriers to the region to serve as a deterrent.

There have, however, been smaller skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon and the U.S. shot down cruise missiles fired by the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Both groups are backed by Iran.

Israeli tanks and infantry personnel briefly entered northern Gaza in "preparation for the next stages of combat," the Israel Defense Forces said early Thursday.

"IDF tanks & infantry struck numerous terrorist cells, infrastructure and anti-tank missile launch posts," the military said in a post on social media.

The post included a video that appeared to show bulldozers breaking through a barricade-like structure, followed by footage of a military convoy traveling along dirt roads and then several explosions.

"The soldiers have since exited the area and returned to Israeli territory," IDF said. The video could not be independently verified.