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.
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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.
Blinken visits West Bank, meets with Palestinian Authority leader Abbas
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the West Bank on Sunday, meeting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in an unannounced stop, the State Department said.
The two "discussed efforts to restore calm and stability in the West Bank, including the need to stop extremist violence against Palestinians and hold those accountable responsible," spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.
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.
Biden says progress is being made on a humanitarian pause
President Joe Biden on Saturday said progress was being made on a humanitarian pause -- something his administration has pushed for to get hostages out and aid into Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Answering a shouted question on if progress was being made, Biden gave a thumbs up and said, "Yes," as he was departing church in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed U.S. support for temporary pauses in the Israel-Hamas war during remarks at a summit in Jordan on Saturday. He again rejected the idea of a ceasefire being promoted by many Middle Eastern officials at the summit in Amman.
"It's our view that a ceasefire now would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on Oct. 7. And you don't have to take my word for it -- just a few days ago that a senior Hamas official said it was their intent to do Oct. 7 again and again and again," Blinken said. "No nation would accept that. None of us would find that tolerable."
The remarks capped off an afternoon of talks with Egyptian, Jordanian, Saudi, Qatari and Emirati diplomats and a senior Palestinian official.
Despite the divide, Blinken thanked the other officials for their partnership.
"We appreciate the engagement of every country, and we're particularly grateful to Jordan and to Egypt," said Blinken, noting that both countries have "long worked toward a two-state solution," which he later called "the sole viable solution" to the overarching conflict.
-ABC News' Fritz Farrow and Shannon K. Crawford
Hamas' military arm claims 60 hostages killed in bombings
Hamas' military arm, al-Qassam Brigades, claimed Saturday that 60 Israeli hostages have been killed in the Israel Defense Forces' bombing of Gaza since Oct. 7.
It further claimed that 23 of the hostages' bodies are missing in the rubble from the airstrikes.
Hamas is believed to be holding 241 captives, according to Israeli officials.
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