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 26, 2023, 3:22 PM EDT
IDF claim to have killed terror attack co-architect
The Israel Defense Forces claim to have killed the co-architect of the Oct. 7 terror attack in an aerial strike.
IDF fighter jets struck Shadi Barud, the head of intelligence relations for Hamas, the Israeli military said in a statement Thursday. The statement did not specify when the attack occurred.
IDF accused Barud of planning the attack with Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza.
Oct 26, 2023, 2:31 PM EDT
There's 'significant evidence' Israel committed war crimes: Amnesty International
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
Oct 26, 2023, 1:53 PM EDT
What a potentially wider Israel-Hamas war could mean for the US economy
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.
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
Oct 26, 2023, 12:26 PM EDT
Iran issues warning to United States
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.