Israel said on Monday that its forces freed a soldier from Hamas captivity during the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The soldier, identified as Ori Megidish, was kidnapped by Hamas gunmen who rampaged through southern Israeli communities on 7 October.
She has since undergone medical checks and is “doing well,” the military said.
Israel says that more than 200 hostages are being held by Hamas, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the ground campaign in Gaza creates the possibility for their rescue.
“Hamas will not do it unless they are under pressure,” he told reporters.
“We obviously greeted one hostage with open arms after yesterday’s successful action… but we’re committed to getting all the hostages back home. We think that this method stands a chance.”
It comes after Israeli troops and tanks attacked Gaza’s main northern city from both sides.
Israel’s military said it had struck more than 600 militant targets over the past few days as it expanded ground operations in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian civilians are in dire need of fuel, food and clean water as the war enters its fourth week.
The militants said they had repelled an attempted push from Israel tanks into Gaza City from the east and were fighting them on the border with Israel.
“Our duty today is fight and fight,” the Islamic Jihad militant group, fighting alongside Hamas, said in a statement, adding that now was not the time for a truce.
The Israeli military said it had killed four prominent Hamas operatives.
Israel renewed warnings for civilians to move from the north of the tiny coastal enclave to the south as it began a big push into Gaza late on Friday to go after .
Many people have stayed in the city, afraid of becoming homeless like their forefathers and concerned by Israeli bombing further south.
On Monday, residents said Israeli forces carried out dozens of air strikes on the city’s eastern side, with some reporting the roar of tanks rolling in amid exchanges of fire.
Palestinian health officials said air strikes had hit near three large hospitals in Gaza City on Monday.
People arriving for treatment at Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza after Israeli bombardment on 24 October. Source: Getty / Mahmud Hams
The United Nations humanitarian office OCHA said 117,000 civilians are sheltering alongside patients and doctors in hospitals in the north.
Israel has accused Hamas of placing command centres and weaponry near hospitals, which the group denies.
Air strikes could also be heard in the southern towns of Rafah near Gaza’s only operational border crossing, with Egypt, as well as east of Khan Younis, where Palestinian media said Hamas clashed with Israeli troops.
Israel has said 1400 people were killed when Hamas-led militants stormed through the south of the country on 7 October and took 229 hostage.
Hamas has released four so far and said 50 have been killed in retaliatory strikes.
Medical authorities in Hamas-run Gaza, which has a population of 2.3 million people, said on Monday that 8306 people – including 3457 minors – had been killed.
OCHA said rescuers were struggling to reach people.
“As of 29 October, about 1800 people, including at least 940 children, have been reported missing and may be trapped or dead under the rubble, awaiting rescue or recovery,” it said.
The UN agency also said that armed groups continued firing rockets at Israel indiscriminately, with no fatalities reported.
Ricarda Louk sits in front of a placard of her daughter Shani Louk who was abducted by Hamas militants during the 7 October attack into southern Israel. Source: AP / Maya Alleruzzo
The Israeli government said a German-Israeli woman who was seized by Hamas from a music festival on 7 October and paraded around Gaza is dead.
“I am really sorry to report that we have now received news that Shani Nicole Louk has been confirmed murdered and dead,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog told Germany’s Bild newspaper.
“What we saw on the Gaza-Israel border goes far beyond a pogrom. We saw a slaughterhouse.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Hamas had to be held accountable for the death of Louk, 23.
“For me, this news is terrible,” Scholz said.
“This shows all the barbarism that lies behind Hamas.”
, gaining power in the Gaza Strip since winning legislative elections there in 2006.
Hamas’s stated aim is to establish a Palestinian state, while refusing to recognise Israel’s right to exist.
Hamas, in its entirety, is designated as a terrorist organisation by countries including Australia, Canada, the UK and the US.
Some countries list only its military wing as a terrorist group.
The UN though did not condemn Hamas in its entirety as a terrorist organisation, due to insufficient support from member states to do so during a 2018 vote.
