Israeli forces rescued a hostage found alone underground in Gaza, freeing a living captive from Hamas' vast tunnel network for the first time since the Oct. 7 attack that ignited the war. The 52-year-old Israeli man was taken Tuesday to a hospital in Israel, where members of his large Bedouin Arab family gathered around his bedside in a joyful reunion. The rescue brought a rare moment of joy to Israelis after 10 months of war but also served as a painful reminder that dozens of hostages are still in captivity as international mediators try to broker a cease-fire in which they would be released.

Thousands of ultranationalist Israelis have marched through a sensitive Palestinian area of Jerusalem in an annual procession, chanting racist slogans. Also on Wednesday, the country's far-right national security minister boasted that Jews had prayed at a key holy site in the city in violation of longstanding agreements. Both stoke regional tensions that are already high because of the war in Gaza. The march has in previous years ignited widespread tensions, as it did three years ago, when it helped set off an 11-day war in Gaza. The annual march commemorates "Jerusalem Day," which marks Israel's capture of east Jerusalem, including the Old City and its holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, in the 1967 Mideast war.