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.
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.
13 killed from strikes on ambulances at gate of Gaza hospital: Gaza Health Ministry
Thirteen people were killed and 26 were injured from a blast that struck ambulances at the gate of Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital complex, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the group of ambulances were returning to the hospital from a mission to transport injured people to the Gaza-Egypt Rafah border crossing.
The Israel Defense Forces said its aircraft hit an ambulance that it believes was being used by Hamas.
"We have information which demonstrates that Hamas' method of operation is to transfer terror operatives and weapons in ambulances," the IDF said.
"A number" of Hamas terrorists were killed in the blast, the IDF said.
The IDF said, "We emphasize that this area is a battle zone. Civilians in the area are repeatedly called upon to evacuate southwards for their own safety."
Over 100 Americans and relatives left Gaza Thursday, more expected Friday
The U.S. Embassy in Cairo helped more than 100 U.S. citizens and family members who left Gaza for Egypt on Thursday, according to the White House. "Another large group of Americans" is expected to leave Gaza on Friday, the White House said.
The U.S. is aware of more Americans and family members who left Gaza on Thursday and didn't seek out help from the embassy in Cairo, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
-ABC News' Justin Ryan Gomez
Rafah border crossing opens, allowing foreign nationals to exit Gaza
The border crossing between Gaza and Egypt opened on Wednesday, allowing some foreign nationals and injured Gaza residents to exit the enclave for the first time since the Israel-Hamas conflict began on Oct. 7.
Seventeen ambulances, each transporting one injured Gazan, have crossed the border into Egypt, ABC News has confirmed.
The Rafah border crossing, which is controlled by Egypt, was expected to allow about 500 foreign passport holders to exit, according to the Gaza Borders and Crossings Authority, which released a list of names of those who would be allowed across.
At least 110 dual nationals have crossed the Rafah border into Egypt, ABC News confirmed.
Five American aid workers are among those at Rafah waiting to cross into Egypt, according to the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund.