Hamas said it has released two hostages, identified as Nurit Yitzhak and Yochved Lifshitz, for “compelling humanitarian” reasons.

The militant group said on its Telegram channel that the release was brokered through the governments of Egypt and Qatar. Hamas is estimated to have taken approximately 222 hostages.

Though Hamas previously said it tried to release the two hostages on Friday, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it “propaganda,” and Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed skepticism that they would be released.

Earlier in the day, the State Department declined to discuss U.S. and partner efforts to secure the release of hostages taken by Hamas more than two weeks ago.

“We do want to see all of the hostages released and we want to see them released unconditionally and we want to see them released as soon as possible,” State Department spokesman Matt Miller told reporters during a daily press briefing.

Last week, the first of the U.S. American hostages, mother and daughter Natalie and Judith Raanan, were released.

— Amanda Macias

The State Department declined to provide an update on the U.S. efforts to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas.

“As for any details, because of the delicate and very sensitive nature of this entire issue, we don’t find it productive to our objective to talk about the details publicly,” State Department spokesman Matt Miller said.

The White House has previously said there are at least 10 U.S. citizens who remain unaccounted for.

— Amanda Macias

Secretary of State Antony Blinken thanked American civil servants for their work as the ongoing crisis in the Middle East intensifies.

“Over the past few weeks, amidst the terror, the violence, the suffering that’s unfolding in the Middle East, we have seen how important a nimble and power diplomatic workforce is,” Blinken said during remarks in Arlington, Virginia.

“Our teams from Jerusalem to Cairo from Amman to Riyadh, in posts around the world, they’ve been working around the clock under tremendous pressure to shape our policy, to inform our understanding, to lead our diplomatic engagement with key partners to advance key goals for the United States,” he added.

— Amanda Macias

U.S. troops in Syria were targeted by drones but there were no injuries, Reuters cited two U.S. officials as saying Monday.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the attack occurred at Al-Tanf base close to Syria’s borders with Iraq and Jordan.

It marks the latest in a series of attacks against U.S. forces in the Middle East region.

— Karen Gilchrist

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday announced a further £20 million ($24.4 million) in humanitarian aid for Gaza, doubling its earlier funding.

Sunak also told the House of Commons that British intelligence analysis suggests that an explosion at Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City last week was likely caused by a missile fired from within Gaza. Both Israel and Hamas have blamed one another for the blast.

“The U.K. government judges that the explosion [at al-Ahli hospital] was likely caused by a missile or part of one that was launched from within Gaza towards Israel,” he said.

— Karen Gilchrist

The Israel Defense Forces said Monday that its soldiers were conducting a “variety of training exercises in order to improve the forces’ readiness and capabilities for ground operations in the Gaza Strip.”

In a post on social media site Telegram, it added that teams from the Infantry Corps, the Armored Corps and additional units were preparing for “a number of different combat scenarios.”

It also said that meetings were being held to “tighten cooperation between air and ground forces.”

The update comes as Israel is expected to launch a major ground incursion into Gaza. IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus reportedly said such an attack could be prevented on the basis of a full Hamas surrender and the return of Israeli hostages.

— Karen Gilchrist

Images published Monday via Getty Images showed Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip preparing and receiving food amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

The Israeli Air Force said Monday via social media that air defense fighters intercepted a drone from Lebanon in Ein HaMifratz in northern Israel.

“Following the initial report on the activation of an alert in the Galilee area, the air defence fighters intercepted an unmanned aircraft that infiltrated from Lebanese territory into the State of Israel from the maritime space, in the area of Ein HaMifratz,” the Israeli Air Force said via X, formerly known as Twitter, according to an NBC translation.

Israel has recently expanded its planned evacuations of communities in the north of the country as cross-border clashes intensify with fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

— Sam Meredith

The crux of Monday talks between EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg focuses on how to bring critically needed humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, Sweden’s foreign minister said Monday.

“The discussions are ongoing, but the question really isn’t about a ceasefire, but about how to bring aid forward and that can be done in very many different ways,” Tobias Billstrom told reporters after a meeting of EU foreign ministers, according to Reuters. He added that Sweden preferred the introduction of a humanitarian corridor.

Earlier in the day, EU top envoy Josep Borrell had floated the idea of a “humanitarian pause” to the hostilities between Israel and Hamas to allow human rights groups to deliver and safely distribute the aid sent through to the Gaza Strip.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Turkey is sending four planes carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip, Ankara’s Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in a Google-translated social media post.

The planes will fly to Egypt, from which point the goods will be sent to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing.

Koca added that the aircrafts will deliver medical equipment and supplies, medication and generators — a critical component, as Gaza authorities say the local health system is collapsing amid shortages of electricity and fuel.

“We are happy to fulfill this responsibility on behalf of our nation. Our humanitarian responsibility does not end here. There is more,” Koca said.

Since the weekend, convoys carrying U.N.-brokered humanitarian aid have begun to reach the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing, but human rights groups signal that the number of trucks and deliveries is insufficient to meet local needs.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Hamas-run health authorities in Gaza said over 5,000 people were killed since the Oct. 7 start of the war between Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel.

The figures, released by Health Ministry spokesperson Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra, include 2,055 children. Some 15,273 people remain injured.

The enclosure has been under perpetual bombardment from Israeli forces, which are pursuing the forces of Hamas, following the Palestinian militant group’s multi-pronged terror attacks of early October. Israel has sealed off the Gaza Strip, depriving it of its water, fuel, food and electricity resources, and these shortages — combined with the absence of medical equipment — are bringing the Gaza health system near collapse, human rights group and the Palestinian health ministry have previously said.

At least 1,400 Israeli people have been killed since the start of the conflict, according to official figures out Friday. Roughly 222 hostages remain abducted by Hamas in Gaza, Israeli military says.

CNBC could not verify the figures supplied by either side of the conflict.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The blockaded Gaza Strip needs fuel supplies as urgently as it does water and food resources, an official for the U.N. Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said Monday.

“No fuel has come into Gaza for the last two weeks,” UNRWA Director of External Relations Tamara Alrifai told CNN in a TV interview, “And without fuel, it’s not going to be possible to go around Gaza in our trucks and distribute assistance or to power the water desalination plants and get clean drinking water or to power hospitals and their live-saving machines.”

She added that the convoys of humanitarian aid that have entered the Gaza Strip since the weekend represent a “trickle” of the volume of supplies needed to support the civilian population of the region.

“These trucks really only contain a fraction of what is needed, given the immense, immense humanitarian needs,” she said, noting that the Gaza Strip previously received roughly 100 trucks of humanitarian aid and fuel per day.

Israel cut off its own deliveries of water, fuel, food and electricity to the Gaza Strip and refuses to reinstate them, on the premise that they would support the forces of Palestinian militant group Hamas stationed within the territory.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The Israeli military said on Monday it had launched an interceptor missile at a “suspicious aerial target” that crossed in from Lebanon, and that sirens had been sounded in areas of the border as a precaution.

-Reuters

Current aid supplies to Gaza are “drop in the ocean” that will have little substantial impact, Chatham House associate fellow Yossi Mekelberg said Monday.

“Some humanitarian help is better than none, but this is a drop in the ocean. Twenty to 40 trucks [or] lorries won’t make a huge difference, you need at least 100 a day,” he told CNBC after the first aid convoys entered the embattled territory over the weekend.

Noting that the conflict is unlikely to be resolved within the coming days or weeks, Mekelberg advised that new political thinking would likely be needed to reach a solution that is agreeable to both sides.

“You need new leadership in both political entities. You need people to think about peaceful coexistence — a two-state solution in a one-state reality,” he said.

“You need innovative and creative ideas and you need a new generation that understands that violence will just breed more violence and bloodshed and won’t improve the lives of either side one iota.”

— Karen Gilchrist

A ground incursion by Israel into Gaza is unlikely over the next 48 to 72 hours or possibly even the rest of the week, according to one analyst. While it appears to be inevitable — the bigger question might be what comes next.

Samuel Ramani, associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Monday that it is “very, very hard” to understand what could happen if and when Israel achieves its immediate strategy of destroying Hamas.

Asked whether there is a danger that Israel may end up in a position that it can’t then get out of, Ramani replied, “That’s actually what some of the Israeli officials have even been saying, you know, off the record and privately to various media outlets: We don’t really know what will happen next.”

Ramani added, “It is very, very hard to understand what will happen once Hamas goes, and the risk is that many civilians die in this war, Hamas could be going underground, or new extremist movements could develop and Israel’s security could be threatened once again.”

— Sam Meredith

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis arrived in Israel on Monday and will meet his Israeli counterpart Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

Mitsotakis is set to return to Greece later in the day, his office said in a Google-translated update.

The Greek prime minister has previously expressed full support of Israel and its right to defend against the forces of Palestinian militant group Hamas, while urging a need to avoid a humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Slovenia’s foreign minister on Monday added to calls for a humanitarian cease-fire to the Israel-Hamas conflict, as she joins EU counterparts for a meeting in Luxembourg.

“We are calling for urgent humanitarian cease-fire for establishment of humanitarian corridors for humanitarian assistance to civilians. We have to act according to international law, according to humanitarian law, and do everything so that the conflict does not spill into the region,” Tanja Fajon said, expressing concern over the electricity, food, fuel and water shortages faced by the blockaded civilians of the bombarded Gaza Strip.

She noted that these residents need “hundreds of trucks every day” of humanitarian aid. U.N. supplies began to enter the Gaza Strip over the weekend through the Rafah crossing that bridges the enclave with Egypt.

“We strongly condemn any form of terror. We strongly condemn holding hostages and mostly killing of innocent civilians,” Fajon said.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell on Monday called for a pause in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

“Now the most important thing is for humanitarian support to go into Gaza,” Borrell told reporters in Luxembourg, according to Reuters.

“Personally, I think a humanitarian pause is needed in order to allow humanitarian support to come in and be distributed.”

The EU is on Monday holding a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council, where officials intend to discuss Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, tensions in Armenia and Azerbaijan and “the situation in Israel and in the region, following Hamas’ brutal and indiscriminate terrorist attacks across Israel and the events unfolding in Gaza,” the bloc says.

“I cannot anticipate the result of the meeting but it is certainly something which the ministers will have to discuss … The Secretary-General of the United Nations asked for it very much,” Borrell said Monday.

On Sunday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who traveled to Israel to oversee preparations for a humanitarian aid convoy to Gaza at the end of last week, urged not to lose sight of the two-state solution to long-arching hostilities between Israeli and Palestinian people.

Earlier on Saturday, Guterres had called for the release of hostages held by Hamas, sustained humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and diplomatic efforts to prevent the spill of the Israel-Hamas conflict into the broader Middle Eastern region.

— Ruxandra Iordache

An Israeli military spokesperson criticized the recent spread of protests against Israel as uninformed, urging non-participants in the country’s conflict with Hamas to take sides on moral grounds.

“I think that people who are out and are protesting against Israel are either uninformed or really filled with hate towards Israel based on things that have nothing to do with what is going on with Gaza now,” Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Jonathan Conricus told ABC Radio Melbourne on Sunday night.

Demonstrators have taken to the streets of several Middle Eastern and European countries out of solidarity with the Palestinian civilians of the Gaza Strip, who face severe electricity, medical, food, fuel and water shortages as a result of Israel’s retaliatory siege against Palestinian militant group Hamas.

“I don’t think that we should be forced to provide sustenance to the same enemy that is firing rockets at our civilians and trying to kill our civilians,” Conricus said, referencing Israel’s decision to interrupt deliveries of its own supplies to the Gaza Strip within days of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks.

Antisemitic incidents and hate crimes have also picked up in the two weeks since the start of hostilities.

“I actually think that one should take sides. One should take sides and choose, according to your own morals, where you stand,” Conricus added. “We are not the aggressor. We didn’t start this war … We are now defending ourselves.”

— Ruxandra Iordache

A full surrender of Palestinian group Hamas and the return of Israeli hostages could end Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip and prevent a ground incursion, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Jonathan Conricus told ABC Radio Melbourne on Sunday night.

“If Hamas were to come out of their hiding places, that they hide underneath the civilian places, which is what they’re doing now, return our hostages, all 212 of them, and surrender unconditionally, then the war will end. If they won’t, we will probably have to go in and get it done,” he said, declining to elaborate if dismantling Hamas or rescuing hostages is the current IDF priority.

“The aim here is to totally dismantle Hamas from its military capabilities. If that can be done from the air, and with standoff measures, with very limited exposure to our troops and less damage on the ground, that would be great,” he added.

An Israeli ground incursion into the Gaza Strip has been long anticipated since the IDF instructed civilians in northern Gaza to evacuate southward toward the end of the first week of hostilities. Human rights groups have decried the possibility, pointing to a likely exacerbation of the existing humanitarian crisis in the embattled enclosure. Conricus reiterated that the IDF does not set out to target civilians, while claiming that Hamas uses non-combatants as human shields.

“Once we will bury our dead, we will get busy with Hamas, we will see an end to the Hamas, and then the security situation Israel and also for Gaza will be better,” the spokesperson said.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Seventeen people were killed and dozens were injured in two Israeli airstrikes in the north of the Gaza Strip on Monday morning, the Palestinian Ministry of Interior said in a Google-translated update on Telegram.

The ministry added that the two offensives hit two residences.

The Israel Defense Force on Sunday night said it was continuing to strike “dozens of Hamas terror targets in the Gaza Strip,” as part of its ongoing retaliatory offensive in the region for the Hamas multi-pronged attacks of Oct. 7. On Monday morning, the IDF said it had struck over 320 military targets in the Gaza Strip over the course of the past day.

The Israeli military says it does not target civilians in Gaza and exclusively pursues Hamas positions.

CNBC could not independently verify the reports.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The Israel Defense Forces said they struck more military positions held by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah overnight.

The targets included infrastructure including a military compound and an observation post, along with four cells on the border with Lebanon.

CNBC could not independently verify developments on the ground.

Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire since the start of Israel’s conflict with Palestinian militant group Hamas.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Additional medical supplies from the World Health Organization have entered the Gaza Strip, the organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said early Monday on social media.

The WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean said this equipment will facilitate surgical interventions for 1,300 people, basic and essential health services for 100,000 patients for a duration of three months, along with treatment for 150,000 chronic disease patients.

Tedros reiterated a call for sustained safe passage for the humanitarian aid convoy and for fuel volumes so sustain both the delivery trucks delivering the assistance and the health facilities of the territories, which have been struggling with electricity shortages.

A first humanitarian truck convoy entered the Gaza Strip over the weekend, through the Rafah crossing that borders the territory by way of Egypt.

— Ruxandra Iordache

In the wake of the deadly terrorist attack on Israel earlier this month and the country’s response to it, protestors and bigots have taken to social media to spout hateful rhetoric about Israelis. Now, many American Jews who feel unsafe are putting aside their distaste for guns and gun ownership and are buying weapons to protect themselves, according to an NBC News report.

There has been a rush of new customers seeking to buy guns and train up how to use them, according to NBC News.

“We’ve definitely seen a tremendous increase in religious Jewish people, Orthodox people, purchasing firearms,” David Kowalsky, owner of Florida Gun Store in Hollywood, who also offers firearms training, told NBC News. “I’ve seen a surge in interest in individual training as well as group training.”

See the NBC News report here.

— Terri Cullen

A 20-truck convoy filled with medical supplies, food and water passed through the Rafah Crossing into Gaza on Saturday, with 14 more crossing over on Sunday.

The aid will continue to flow on a daily basis, according to David Satterfield, Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues.

The goal is to have a “continuous flow of assistance moving” to Gaza, said Satterfield on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki.”

Satterfield said that Hamas, which the United States has designated a terrorist group, has been warned that if it interferes with the aid there is a chance that it stops.

Israel’s potential ground invasion into Gaza could also make it more difficult to deliver aid, he said. There has been concern over Palestinians’ access to water as well, and Satterfield said that the U.S. is working with the Israeli government to restore water pipelines.

Satterfield said one of the two key pipelines is restored and they are working on the other.

“The people of Gaza need to be able to live secure lives in Gaza and that requires an end to Hamas’ ability to govern, to exploit and to dominate with their terror,” said Satterfield.

In addition to aid delivery, Satterfield is working on finding ways for Americans and foreign nationals in Gaza to be able to leave.

— Jake Piazza

President Joe Biden on Sunday had a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and the status of Gaza.

Biden and Netanyahu “affirmed that there will now be continued flow” of critical humanitarian assistance into Gaza, the White House said in a statement.

The first wave of humanitarian aid trickled into Gaza on Saturday via 20 trucks that crossed the Rafah border in northern Egypt.

The aid is ready to be deployed according to United Nations World Food Programme Director Cindy McCain, but the trucks have been standing by waiting for clearance to pass through the Rafah crossing.

Civilians in Gaza, caught in the crossfire of the war, have been left without basic necessities like food, water, shelter and medical resources.

While speaking to Netanyahu, Biden also mentioned the ongoing efforts to release American hostages and provide safe passage for U.S. citizens to leave Gaza.

— Rebecca Picciotto

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that the United States expects the Israel-Hamas war to escalate by proxies of Iran directed against American armed forces and personnel, and that the U.S. is prepared to respond in the event that happens.

“We are taking steps to make sure that we can effectively defend our people and respond decisively if we need to. This is not what we want, not what we’re looking for. We don’t want escalation.” Blinken said at an appearance during NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We don’t want to see a second or third front develop. We don’t want to see our forces or our personnel come under fire. But if that happens, we’re ready for it.”

The U.S. had announced Sunday that non-essential staff at its embassy in Iraq should leave the country.

— Pia Singh

Protracted conflict and violence amid the Israel-Hamas war have led to mass demonstrations across the globe.

• On Sunday, thousands of people in Berlin and London took part in vigils to oppose antisemitism and support Israel. The same day, thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Paris and other European cities were demanding a cease-fire and aid for people in the Gaza Strip.
• On Saturday, nearly 100,000 people joined a pro-Palestinian demonstration in central London, demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The demonstration, which was organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, moved through London before protesters gathered at the official residence and office of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Pro-Palestinian rallies also took place in Los Angeles and New York on Saturday.
• On Friday, a wave of demonstrations occurred across the Middle East. Individuals held marches outside Israeli and U.S. diplomatic missions blaming Israel and its allies for the violence and worsening humanitarian conditions in the West Bank, where an increase in violence has been reported against Palestinian residents, as well as Gaza, where Israeli forces continue attacking the enclave. Some burned Israeli flags and stepped on portraits of U.S. President Joe Biden, who has urged Americans to stand by Israel.
• On Wednesday, hundreds of demonstrators from Jewish advocacy groups in the U.S. marched on Capitol Hill, calling for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. More than 300 people were arrested for illegally demonstrating.
• Around the world: Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters have also marched in several cities across Ireland, France, Italy, Australia, Germany, Kosovo and Lebanon. Jewish communities in the U.S., France and elsewhere have also held rallies in solidarity with Israel.

— Pia Singh