Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the army's mistaken killing of three hostages in Gaza broke his heart but "military pressure is necessary" to return the other captives home.
“It broke my heart. It broke the heart of the entire nation," he said of the tragic deaths of the three men, adding: "With all my deep sorrow, I want to make it clear: military pressure is necessary both to return the abductees and to achieve victory over our enemies."
Calls for Netanyahu's government to resume stalled talks with Hamas on a hostage exchange deal have grown since the army admitted the three hostages were shot by soldiers by mistake despite waving a white flag and calling for help Hebrew.
News of their killing sparked protests, with relatives of the remaining hostages expressing concern that their loved ones could be next and calling on Netanyahu to return to the negotiating table.
"It feels like a game of Russian roulette, wondering who will be next in line to be notified of the death of a loved one," Ruby Chen, father of 19-year-old hostage and soldier Itai, said at an event Saturday night .
Netanyahu, however, was adamant that military pressure was needed for the talks to succeed.
"The guidance I'm giving the negotiating team is based on that pressure and without it we have nothing," he said.
Hamas said it would not "start any prisoner exchange negotiations unless the aggression against our people stops completely."
The Palestinian militant group took about 250 hostages during its attack on Israel on October 7, which killed 1,100 people, according to official figures.
Israel's retaliatory operation has since killed more than 18,700 people, according to the Hamas-run government in Gaza.
A short-lived ceasefire agreement saw the release of more than 100 hostages in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails, but that agreement has since expired and fighting has resumed.
The Israeli government has repeatedly stated that the return home of all hostages is one of its primary military objectives. /BGNES
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