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.
ABC News' Ian Pannell embeds with IDF in Gaza
ABC News' senior foreign correspondent Ian Pannell reports from inside Gaza with IDF forces.
Doctors Without Borders says conflict has reached ‘new low’ after ambulance strike
Doctors Without Borders called for a ceasefire Saturday saying the conflict has reached "a new low in an endless stream of unconscionable violence." The organization, which has been providing medical care to people in Gaza, also condemned world leaders for not calling for a ceasefire.
"The deadly attack outside the gate of Al-Shifa hospital impacting an ambulance is horrendous. This is a lethal attack outside Gaza's main and busiest hospital, where our staff work daily to provide lifesaving medical care. We have repeatedly called for an immediate and total ceasefire, for the protection of healthcare facilities, as well as medics, patients and people who are taking shelter there," Doctors Without Borders said in a statement Saturday.
"This is a new low in an endless stream of unconscionable violence. The repeated strikes on hospitals, ambulances, densely populated areas and refugee camps are disgraceful. How many people have to die before world leaders wake up and call for a ceasefire?" Doctors Without Borders said.
This comes as the Palestinian death toll rises to 9,488 -- including 3,900 children and 3,509 women -- and 24,158 Palestinians were injured, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
One physician described seeing an ambulance hit outside Al-Shifa hospital.
"We were standing inside the hospital gate when the ambulance was directly hit in front of us. There were bloody bodies everywhere. Many were killed immediately, while we rushed others to the operating room for emergency care," Dr. Obaid, a Doctors Without Borders doctor at Al Shifa hospital, said.
The Israel Defense Forces claimed its aircraft hit an ambulance that it believes was being used by Hamas and called for civilians to move south for safety.
-ABC News' Cindy Smith and Emma Ogao
Turkey withdraws its Israeli ambassador over 'humanitarian tragedy in Gaza'
Turkey announced it is recalling its ambassador to Israel due to the "humanitarian tragedy in Gaza caused by the continuing attacks by Israel against civilians," the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Saturday.
"In view of the unfolding humanitarian tragedy in Gaza caused by the continuing attacks by Israel against civilians, and Israel’s refusal of calls for ceasefire and continuous and unhindered flow of humanitarian aid, it was decided to recall our Ambassador in Tel Aviv, H.E. Mr. Şakir Özkan Torunlar, to Ankara for consultations," according to a statement.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has now added a stop in Ankara, Turkey, during his diplomatic mission to the region.
-ABC News' Cindy Smith and Davonne Morales
Secretary Blinken in Jordan for talks with Middle East foreign ministers
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah on Saturday and will join a meeting of foreign ministers of five Arab countries, also attended by a representative of the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas.
The prime objective of the talks is to ease Gaza’s growing humanitarian crisis, but that mission is complicated by Israel's insistence there can be no temporary cease-fire until all hostages held by Hamas are released. Israel has also presented the argument that a cease-fire would be in Hamas’s favor.
Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has again called for an immediate cease-fire to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, saying the conditions in Gaza are now "horrific" with food and water needed along with fuel for generators that power hospitals.
The U.N.’s director for Palestinian refugees says that the average Gaza inhabitant is living on two pieces of bread made from flour the UN had stockpiled and that people in southern Gaza have been forced to do all their washing on the beach using seawater as clean water runs out.
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