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.
Egyptian Red Crescent says it's about to run out of aid to send to Gaza
Ramy ElNazer, CEO of the Egyptian Red Crescent, warned Friday that the organization is about to run out of its stock of humanitarian aid to send to Gaza.
Explosion reported at Gaza City's biggest hospital
A large explosion has been reported at Al-Shifa hospital, Gaza City's biggest hospital. An ambulance was apparently on fire following the blast.
A spokesman for the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said, "We informed the Red Cross in accordance with international law that the convoy of wounded was moving via ambulances from Al-Shifa Hospital, but the occupation targeted the convoy in more than one location: in front of the hospital door, at the Ansar roundabout, and on Al-Rashid (Al-Bahr) Street leading to the south of the Gaza Strip."
Over 1,000 foreign passport holders leave Gaza in 3 days
A Rafah border crossing official said 355 foreign passport holders left Gaza and entered Egypt via the Rafah crossing on Friday, bringing the total to 1,032 foreign passport holders who've crossed into Egypt over the last three days.
The official said 128 Palestinians, including 113 injured Palestinians, have also crossed into Egypt.
35 Americans killed in Oct. 7 attack in Israel: Blinken
Thirty-five Americans were killed in the Oct. 7 attack in Israel, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a Friday news conference after meeting with Israeli leaders. The American death toll previously stood at 32.
-ABC News' Shannon Crawford
Kirby suggests 'pause' allowed 2 American hostages out, US looking to secure more 'pauses'
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby on Thursday suggested that Israel agreed to a temporary pause in order for the two American hostages to be safely freed last month and said the U.S. would be working toward securing more pauses.
"The president already worked on one such pause when we were able to get those two Americans out. And that's, that's what we're kind of looking at," Kirby added. "When we're talking about humanitarian pause, what we're talking about are temporary, localized pauses in the fighting to meet a certain goal or goals -- as I said, get aid in, get people out."
He said the administration is exploring "as many pauses as might be necessary to continue to get aid out, and to continue to work to get people out safely, including hostages."
Israeli officials said there are 242 hostages in Gaza.
Kirby stressed that the administration isn't "advocating for a general cease-fire at this point."
"We believe that a general cease-fire would benefit Hamas in providing them breathing space and time to continue to plot and execute attacks on the Israeli people," he said.
-ABC News' Fritz Farrow