Israeli ground forces attacked Hamas militants and infrastructure on Tuesday in the northern Gaza Strip, from where some 800,000 Palestinians fled in three weeks of hostilities despite persistent bombing throughout the besieged enclave, the Israeli Army reported. Encouraged by the successful rescue of a first hostage, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls for a ceasefire and renewed his promise to destroy Hamas for its attacks in Israel on October 7, which included killings of civilians. and the kidnapping of more than two hundred people, which sparked the current escalation. More than half of Gaza's 2.4 million Palestinians left their homes in the violence, and hundreds of thousands are sheltered in UN-run schools or hospitals, along with thousands of wounded.