The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Tuesday that at least 40,476 people have been killed in the war between Israel and Palestinian militants, now in its 11th month.
The toll includes 41 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to ministry figures, which also list 93,647 people as wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.
The Israeli military said it rescued an Israeli hostage in Gaza on Tuesday. Kaid Farhan Alkadi, a 52-year-old Israeli Bedouin, was abducted by Palestinian militants during the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the military said in a statement.
鈥楢lkadi was rescued in a complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip,鈥� the statement said, adding that he was in a stable condition and being transferred to a hospital for a medical check-up.
Alkadi is from Rahat, a predominantly Arab town. On October 7, he had been working as a guard at a warehouse in southern Israel when he was seized by militants.
Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum described his rescue as 鈥榤iraculous鈥�.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was 鈥榳orking tirelessly to bring all our hostages back鈥�, in a video issued shortly after he spoke with Alkadi.
The United States struck a cautious note of optimism on Monday regarding efforts to clinch a Gaza ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages.
Their fate is central to on-going truce talks in Cairo, with relatives and supporters piling pressure on the Israeli government in weekly protests demanding their return home.
In Washington, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters 鈥榯here continues to be progress鈥� and that the talks would continue and involve 鈥榳orking groups鈥� for several days.
A key sticking point in the talks has been Israel鈥檚 insistence on keeping control of the so-called Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, to stop Hamas from rearming, something the militant group has refused to countenance.
Cairo, which has been mediating the talks alongside Qatar and the United States, insisted on Monday that 鈥榠t will not accept any Israeli presence鈥� along the corridor, Egyptian state-linked Al-Qahera news reported, citing a high-level source.
The more than 10 months of war in Gaza have so far seen only one truce that lasted for a week starting November 24.
During that period 105 hostages were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
Tuesday鈥檚 hostage rescue came as the violence showed no signs of abating in a war that has ravaged Gaza, displaced nearly all of its population at least once and triggered a humanitarian crisis.
It also came as the United Nations warned of the worsening humanitarian situation in the territory, where the Israeli army ordered a new evacuation and carried out more deadly strikes.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said such orders 鈥榮everely鈥� hampered its 鈥榓bility to deliver essential support and services鈥�.
