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.
Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Oct 20, 2023, 6:06 PM EDT
Former congressman says relatives were killed in explosion on Gaza church
Former Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan said Friday several of his relatives were killed in the blast at a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza.
Amash, the son of a Palestinian Christian immigrant, shared a photo on X, formerly known as Twitter, of two of the relatives who were killed in the blast at the Church of Saint Porphyrios in Gaza.
The church was being used as a shelter for Palestinians.
"The Palestinian Christian community has endured so much. Our family is hurting badly," Amash said in his post.
-ABC News Ben Siegel
Oct 20, 2023, 4:14 PM EDT
More Americans being held hostage, Blinken says
Although two American hostages were released by Hamas on Friday, 10 Americans remain unaccounted for, and some of them are among the estimated 200 people being held by Hamas, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
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
"When I was in Israel last week, I met the families of U.S. citizens that Hamas has taken hostage," Blinken said. "It's impossible to adequately put into words the agony they're feeling."
"What I shared with the families, as the president did as well, is that the entire United States government will work every minute of every day to secure their release, to bring their loved ones home," he said.
12:15
Secretary of State Blinken takes questions after Hamas releases hostagesSecretary of State Antony Blinken holds a news briefing after two American hostages were released by Hamas,
ABCNews.com
Oct 20, 2023, 3:24 PM EDT
2 hostages, mom and daughter from Illinois, released by Hamas
Two American hostages have been released by Hamas -- Judith Raanan, 59, and her daughter, Natalie Raanan, 17 -- and are now back in Israel, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Chicago-area residents Judith Tai Raanan and her daughter Natalie Shoshana Raanan are escorted by Gal Hirsch, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's appointed hostage negotiator, after being freed from Gaza and arriving in Israel, Oct. 20, 2023.
Israeli PM Office
Judith Raanan and Natalie Raanan in a handout photo.
Courtesy Raanan Family
Their conditions were not immediately clear.
The Raanans are from Illinois. Judith Raanan's son said his mom and sister were in Israel for a relative's birthday when they were taken hostage at the Nahal Oz kibbutz.
President Joe Biden said in a statement, "I am overjoyed that they will soon be reunited with their family, who has been wracked with fear."
6:27
2 Americans held hostage in Gaza released by HamasJudith Raanan and Natalie Raanan are now in the custody of the Red Cross after nearly two weeks in captivity.
ABCNews.com
"From the earliest moments of this attack, we have been working around-the-clock to free American citizens who were taken hostage by Hamas, and we have not ceased our efforts to secure the release of those who are still being held. I thank the government of Qatar and the government of Israel for their partnership in this work," Biden said. "As I told those families when I spoke with them last week -- we will not stop until we get their loved ones home."
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
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that the hostages were received "at the border of the Gaza Strip" and were being taken to "a meeting point at a military base in the center of the country, where their family members are waiting for them."
Meir Hecht, a rabbi in Illinois, told reporters that Judith Raanan came to services at his congregation every Shabbat and holiday.
The rabbi said he's "overjoyed" to hear of Judith and Natalie Raanan's release and said there will be a "huge celebration" once they're back home.
He added that he's still "deeply and painfully concerned for the 200-plus hostages that are still there in Gaza."
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
Hamas said in a statement that the two American hostages were released "for humanitarian reasons, and to prove to the American people and the world that the claims made by Biden and his fascist administration are false and baseless."
Oct 20, 2023, 2:08 PM EDT
Family of trapped American in Gaza says Israeli airstrikes 'have increased in intensity'
An American humanitarian aid worker who remains trapped in the Gaza Strip has told her family that Israeli airstrikes "have increased in intensity" in recent days.
"[They've increased] even in the south where people were told they'd be safe," her niece, Leah Okumura, told ABC News in a remote interview on Friday. "It sounds like fireworks where she's staying just constantly."
People inspect the remains of a destroyed building following Israeli airstrike in Khan Yunis in the southern of Gaza Strip, Oct. 18, 2023.
Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images
Okumura's aunt, Ramona, traveled to Gaza several weeks ago to work with children in need of prosthetic limbs. She evacuated from a [U.N.] compound in northern Gaza last week, moving south and heeding Israel's call to do so as it launched retaliatory airstrikes on the Hamas militant group that rules the territory. She is now waiting to cross into Egypt, but the border remains closed "despite several promises" from the U.S. Department of State that Americans would be allowed through, according to her niece.
3:12
Niece of American aid worker trapped in Gaza speaks out Leah Okumura spoke about the continuing struggles and delays of her Aunt Ramona who remains trapped in Gaza.
ABCNews.com
"She currently has limited access to food and water," Okumura said. "We're grateful that she does have access to any at all."
"We love her very much and we are doing everything that we can," she added. "I just want her to come home."
-ABC News' Ibtissem Guenfoud, James Longman, Zoe Magee and Morgan Winsor
