U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting Israel to urge protections for civilians in the fighting with Hamas, as Israeli troops tighten their encirclement of Gaza City. Roughly 800 people — including hundreds of Palestinians with foreign passports and dozens of injured — have been allowed to leave the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing in the last two days following weeks of talks. The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has risen above 9,200. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that started the fighting, and 242 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group.
