Israel says Hamas has freed two American hostages who had been held in Gaza since militants rampaged through southern Israel Oct. 7. The hostage release Friday came even as Israeli airstrikes continued in southern Gaza, an area swelled by civilians who fled there from the north on Israeli instructions. Israel was also evacuating a sizable town near the Lebanese border in the latest sign of a potential ground invasion of Gaza. Palestinians in Gaza reported heavy airstrikes in Khan Younis in the south, where civilians had been told to seek safety, and ambulances streamed into Gaza’s second-largest hospital.