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.
Latest headlines:
- Blinken meets with Iraqi prime minister
- Blinken visits West Bank, meets with Palestinian Authority leader Abbas
- Blinken in Jordan reaffirms need for 'increased, sustained' humanitarian aid for Gaza
- ABC News' Ian Pannell embeds with IDF in Gaza
- Doctors Without Borders says conflict has reached ‘new low’ after ambulance strike
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.
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
IDF spokesperson says Hamas tactical commanders killed in ground operation
IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Sunday that the military ground operation has led to the death of "many terrorists," including tactical commanders.
The IDF is pursuing Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas in Gaza, and Hagari said they will go after him "until we get to him."
Meanwhile, rockets were fired from Lebanon toward northern Israel on Sunday, Hagari said, with Israeli troops returning fire. Hagari said the IDF struck "Hezbollah terror infrastructure."
In the north of the country, the IDF also attacked what Hadari said were three terrorist cells that had been shooting toward Israel's troops.
On Sunday night, local time, rockets were fired at Kiryat Shmona and the Upper Galilee, Hadari said, noting the IDF returned fire.
In his Sunday briefing, Hadari again encouraged Gaza's civilian population to move south of Wadi Gaza for "their personal safety," and where conditions will "allow access to medicines, food and water."
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Israeli officials release statement after reports of protesters storming Russian airport
Israeli officials released a statement Sunday following reports, including from The Associated Press, that hundreds of people stormed the Makhachkala main airport and landing field in southern Russia to protest the arrival of a flight from Tel Aviv. The AP cited Russian news agencies and social media.
"The State of Israel takes seriously attempts to harm Israeli citizens and Jews everywhere," the Israeli Prime Minister's Office and Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a joint statement Sunday.
"The Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Security Headquarters (NSH) are monitoring the development of events in southern Russia in the Dagestan province," it continued. "Israel expects the Russian law enforcement authorities to protect the safety of all Israeli citizens and Jews wherever they may be and to act resolutely against the rioters and against the wild incitement directed against Jews and Israelis."
"Israel's ambassador to Russia, Alex Ben-Zvi, is working with the authorities in Russia to ensure the safety of Israelis and Jews there," the joint statement read.
The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency said, "The measures are in effect until the situation normalizes. Law enforcement agencies are working on the spot," adding that "the planes that were supposed to land in Makhachkala were redirected to alternate airfields."
In a statement, Sergei Melikov, the head of Dagestan, said the actions of the crowd were a gross violation of the law. "There is no courage in waiting in a crowd for unarmed people who have not done anything forbidden," Melikov said. "There is no determination to break into the airport territory. There is no honor in swearing at strangers, reaching into their pockets and trying to check their passport. There are no good intentions in attacking women with children who were undergoing treatment abroad."
"What happened at our airport is outrageous and should receive an appropriate assessment from law enforcement agencies! And this will definitely be done,” he added.
More than 20 people were injured at the Makhachkala airport, the Ministry of Health of Dagestan said early Monday local time. Two people of the 10 in hospitals were in serious condition, the Ministry said. More than 10 people received medical aid at the airport.
-ABC News' Bruno Nota, Natalia Shumskaia and Will Gretsky
Blinken in Jordan reaffirms need for 'increased, sustained' humanitarian aid for Gaza
In a meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan on Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken "underscored our shared commitment to the protection of civilians" and the need for "increased, sustained" humanitarian aid in Gaza, the State Department said.
"Secretary Blinken also expressed concern regarding the increasing violence in the West Bank and emphasized the U.S. commitment to working with partners towards a durable and sustainable peace in the region, to include the establishment of a Palestinian state, a shared priority of both the United States and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan," department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.
The secretary had earlier on Saturday met with his Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts. The U.S. and those countries share "the same fundamental interest and objective: to end this conflict in a way that ensures lasting peace and security in the region," Blinken told reporters.
He said he also spoke with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi about ways to accelerate humanitarian aid to Gaza and protect Palestinian civilians.
"The United States supports Israel's right to defense against Hamas, a terrorist organization that attacked it brutally and that cares not a whit about the Palestinian people or their futures," Blinken said. "This is the same right that each of our countries has. But as Israel conducts its campaign, how it does it matters."
Blinken is expected on Sunday to arrive in Ankara, Turkey, where he's scheduled to meet with President Recep Tayyep Erdoğan and other local officials.