Israel-Gaza updates: Blinken, Abbas meet on restoring 'calm' in West Bank, State Department says

The top U.S. diplomat made an unannounced stop in the West Bank on Sunday.

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.

Click here for updates from previous days.


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.


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Israeli tanks apparently reach main highway of Gaza Strip

Israeli military tanks apparently reached the main highway of the Gaza Strip on Monday morning, pushing deep into the eastern part of the territory, according to statements from Hamas officials as well as reports from Palestinian journalists.

The Hamas government media office said in a statement that "a few" Israeli tanks targeted civilian cars on the outskirts of Gaza City during an incursion along Salah al-Din Road, which connects the north to the south. Israeli troops then used a bulldozer to cut the street before Hamas militants "forced them to retreat," according to the office.

"There is currently no presence of occupation army vehicles on Salah al-Din Road, and citizen movement has returned to normal on it," the office added.

Izzat Al-Rishq, a member of Hamas' political bureau, also released a statement about the alleged incident on Salah al-Din Road, saying an Israeli tank had "positioned itself for 15 minutes" on the highway and "bombed a civilian car that was returning from the south of the Gaza Strip to its north."

"The car, crowded with a civilian family, tried to return, but the tank bombarded it with a shell," Al-Rishq said in a statement. "The Al-Qassam and Resistance Brigades engaged in violent clashes with the tanks, which penetrated all the way to Salah al-Din Road and hit at least one tank directly. The tanks turned back and they realized that the area in front of them was a minefield."

Video filmed by a Palestinian journalist purportedly shows an Israeli tank striking a car that was attempting to turn around and drive away on Salah al-Din Road on the outskirts of Gaza City.

Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters during a press briefing on Monday morning that he can't comment on the location and movement of troops in Gaza.

-ABC News' Nasser Atta, Bruno Nota and Morgan Winsor


In Gaza, 'day and night is hell'

Younes Elhallaq, a 24-year-old student at the Islamic University of Gaza, is among about 30 family members sheltering in a four-room house in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. They are running out of resources and living in fear.

"The situation is really miserable," he told ABC News. "No electricity, no internet, no water, no food."

"They all told us to go to the south because it's going to be secure and safe or something, but no. … Everything here in Gaza is targeted," he said.

"Sometimes you kind of sleep for two hours, three hours, and then we hear the bombs everywhere," he said.

His sister-in-law, 22-year-old Batoul Abu Ali, added, "Our day and night is hell."

-ABC News' Camille Alcini and Zoe Magee


Ground operations 'continued and expanded' overnight: IDF

Israel Defense Forces announced that their ground operations "continued and expanded" in Gaza overnight.

"An IAF aircraft—guided by ground forces—struck a Hamas post and the 20+ terrorist operatives in it," the IDF said in a statement on X (formerly Twitter). "Soldiers spotted armed terrorists and an anti-tank missile launching post near the Al-Azhar University and guided an IAF fighter jet to strike them."

Meanwhile, the IDF said that they had eliminated "multiple terrorists barricaded within civilian buildings and terrorist tunnels" who attempted to attack the forces.


24 trucks bring in aid: Red Cross

The Red Cross announced Sunday night that its teams in Gaza received 24 trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent through the Rafah crossing.

The trucks contained food supplies and medical necessities, the Red Cross said.

That brings the total number of aid trucks to 118, according to the Red Cross.

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky


74 Americans, family members have left Gaza: White House

Seventy-four U.S. citizens and family members have crossed from Gaza into Egypt, a senior Biden administration official said, adding that the numbers are fluid and changing in real time.

President Joe Biden said at the White House Thursday, "We got out today 74 American folks, out that are dual citizens, and coming home."