Israel-Gaza updates: Biden speaks with Netanyahu about hostages' release, Gaza humanitarian assistance

The hostages are two elderly women who are both Israeli nationals.

ByABC NEWS
Last Updated: October 23, 2023, 4:29 PM EDT

Thousands of people have died and thousands more were injured after 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.

At least 1,400 people have died and 4,629 others have been injured in Israel, according to Israeli authorities. In Gaza, 5,087 people have died and 15,273 have been wounded, according to the Palestinian Health Authority.

Aid workers and officials fear that Israel's call for an evacuation of the northern part of Gaza is precipitating a humanitarian disaster as electricity and other supplies have been cut off in preparation for what appears to be an imminent ground offensive.

Humanitarian groups have urged Israel to call off the evacuation and agree to a cease-fire, even as the country has asserted a right to defend itself -- a right the United States endorses.

Click here for previous updates.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Oct 20, 2023, 12:51 PM EDT

Northern Israeli city evacuated amid Hezbollah fight

The northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona was the latest town along the northern border to be evacuated, allowing Israeli forces to "expand its operational freedom to act against the Hezbollah terrorist organization," an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said.

Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have engaged in artillery exchanges since the outbreak of the latest war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas. Hezbollah has voiced strong support for Hamas, sparking fears that the war could spread into Lebanon.

The Iran-backed, Shiite Muslim political party and militant group has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S.
0:52
What is Hezbollah?The Iran-backed, Shiite Muslim political party and militant group has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S.
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The IDF said one of its drones "struck a terrorist in Lebanese territory" on Thursday night and that Israeli forces also struck "several military assets belonging to" Hezbollah.

Oct 20, 2023, 12:02 PM EDT

'This cannot continue,' prominent Palestinian activist says of Israel-Hamas war

With Israel and the Hamas militant group on the verge of an all-out war, "the only way out of this is an immediate cease-fire," according to veteran Palestinian activist Mustafa Barghouti.

Mustafa Barghouti, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, joins ABC News' James Longman to break down the destruction brought to Gaza.
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As bombings continue, Gazans are caught in crossfire between Israel, Hamas Mustafa Barghouti, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, joins ABC News' James Longman to break down the destruction brought to Gaza.
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"How many more thousands of children should die before they are satisfied?" Barghouti said, referring to Israel's total siege and blockade of the neighboring Gaza Strip in retaliation for Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.

Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 3,785 people, including women and children, in Hamas-ruled Gaza since Oct. 7, and now people are running out of food and water, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

In addition to an immediate cease-fire on both sides, Barghouti called for an exchange of all prisoners and the free passage of humanitarian aid for all those in Gaza "who badly need it."

"This cannot continue," he added. "Palestinians are also human beings and cannot be treated in such a manner."

-ABC News' Ibtissem Guenfoud, James Longman and Morgan Winsor

Oct 20, 2023, 10:29 AM EDT

High-tech expert talks efforts to track down hostages

A team of high-tech experts is helping track down the people who were taken hostage or have disappeared in the wake of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Photographs of the missing are seen as a "Shabbat Dinner" table is prepared at the Tel Aviv museum plaza, with 200 empty seats, representing the hostages and missing people on Oct. 20, 2023 in Tel Aviv Israel.
Leon Neal/Getty Images

"In the last two weeks, we were really working around the clock," one of the experts, Karine Nahon, told ABC News in a telephone interview on Friday.

Currently, there are about 100 people whose whereabouts remain unknown, according to Nahon. Various experts, government agencies and volunteers have joined forces in an effort to locate them. The team is using "an array" of methods and technologies, from creating new algorithms to matching photos of the missing with videos taken by Hamas, Nahon said.

"We combine them in one space and, together, we're actually able to identify hundreds of people and what’s their status," she added.

-ABC News' Ibtissem Guenfoud, James Longman and Morgan Winsor

Oct 20, 2023, 10:26 AM EDT

Aid convoys still waiting to enter Gaza from Egypt

More than 200 trucks and over 4,000 tons of supplies are now stockpiled at the Egypt-Gaza border, according to an Egyptian official.

But the Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing remained closed.

PHOTO: An Egyptian volunteer walks next to trucks carrying humanitarian aid from Egyptian NGOs for Palestinians, as they await for the reopening of the Rafah crossing at the Egyptian side to enter Gaza, in Rafah, Egypt, Oct. 19, 2023.
An Egyptian volunteer walks next to trucks carrying humanitarian aid from Egyptian NGOs for Palestinians, as they await for the reopening of the Rafah crossing at the Egyptian side to enter Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt, Oct. 19, 2023.
Stringer/Reuters

The aid convoys will be allowed to start entering war-torn Gaza "in the next day or so," according to Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

ABC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Ian Pannell reports on the contentious negotiations over the much-needed aid for people inside Gaza.
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Aid trucks to be allowed into Gaza as humanitarian disaster deepensABC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Ian Pannell reports on the contentious negotiations over the much-needed aid for people inside Gaza.
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"We are in deep and advanced negotiations with all relevant sides to ensure that an aid operation into Gaza starts as quickly as possible and with the right conditions," Laerke told reporters in Geneva. "We are encouraged by reports that the different sides are nearing an agreement on the modalities, and that a first delivery is due to start in the next day or so."

During a press briefing in Tel Aviv, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht could not say when aid would be allowed to enter Gaza from Egypt but confirmed that an agreement had not yet been reached and the border crossing was not open.

-ABC News' Ayat Al-Tawy, Jordana Miller, Emma Ogao and Morgan Winsor

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