The Ethiopian military, together with its ally Eritrea, has captured the strategically important city of Shire in the north of the Tigray region.
Both the military leadership of the Tigray rebels and a humanitarian aid worker from the United Nations confirmed this to the German Press Agency on Tuesday.
Since November 2020, the central government has been fighting the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which is demanding more autonomy for its ethnic group.
The conflict is being waged with brutal severity.
Human rights organizations complain that serious war crimes and ethnic cleansing have taken place on both sides.
According to the World Health Organization, around 5.2 million of Tigray's population of over seven million are dependent on humanitarian aid.
Neither the government in Addis Ababa nor the Eritrean authorities have confirmed the city's capture.
However, the Ethiopian central government announced yesterday that it would launch further attacks in the region.
Shire is a university town and has one airport.
From there, other cities in the region such as Axum and Adwa can be reached quickly.
The Ethiopian government had said it wanted to seize the region's airports in order to organize the delivery of humanitarian aid to the region.
Both sides had actually agreed on peace talks led by the African Union.
These were due to start in South Africa on October 8 but have been postponed indefinitely.