Tank seen on key Gaza road as Israeli forces push deeper into north

BBC News:

Israeli forces have pushed deeper into the northern Gaza Strip, with tanks briefly cutting an evacuation route to the south, Palestinian witnesses say.

One tank was filmed on Salah al-Din Road, sparking speculation it could be part of an advance on Gaza City.

A video showed a car turning around after approaching the tank, which seems to open fire and destroy it.

Later, Israel’s military said a soldier being held hostage by Hamas was rescued in an overnight ground operation.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the freeing of Pte Ori Megidish, who was said to be “doing well”, as an “exciting achievement” that expressed Israel’s commitment to release the more than 230 other hostages.

He also condemned as “cruel psychological propaganda” a video released by Hamas that showed another three Israeli women in captivity in Gaza demanding he agree to a prisoner exchange.

The hostages – who include dozens of children and elderly people, as well as soldiers – were taken by Hamas gunmen during an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October in which 1,400 people were killed.

Over the weekend, Israel began what Mr Netanyahu called the “second stage” of a war intended to destroy Hamas, with ground forces expanding their operations inside Gaza after three weeks of intense bombardment.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 8,300 people have been killed in the territory since then, while supplies of food, water, fuel and medicines for its 2.2 million residents are dangerously low.

Mr Netanyahu has also rejected calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying that to pause military operations would be “to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism, to surrender to barbarism”.

“Today we draw a line between the forces of civilisation and the forces of barbarism,” he told a news conference on Monday. “Israel will stand against the forces of barbarism until victory. I hope and pray that civilised nations everywhere will back this fight.”

Aid agencies have constantly called for a pause in the fighting in order to send aid to the besieged territory.