Military pressure will bring hostages back from Gaza, Israeli official says

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel will keep striking Hamas targets in Gaza to ensure the return of hostages, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday, as European countries called for a ceasefire and access for aid supplies.

Ophir Falk, Netanyahu's foreign policy adviser, said military pressure pushed Hamas to accept the first truce in November 2023, in which some 80 hostages were returned. He said this was also the surest way to force release of the remaining 59 hostages.

"The only reason they went back to the negotiating table was military pressure, and that's what we're doing right now," he told reporters.

After weeks of relative calm in Gaza, following a ceasefire deal reached in January, attempts to agree an extension of the halt in fighting stalled and Israel resumed its air strikes and deployed ground troops in areas across the strip.

Falk declined to give details of negotiations to restore the ceasefire. But he said Israel had accepted proposals from U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff for an extended truce until after Ramadan and the Jewish Passover holiday next month.

"I can't get into the details of the negotiations. What I can say is that we're going to achieve all our war objectives."

Hamas has accused Israel of breaking the terms of the January ceasefire agreement by refusing to begin negotiations for a final end to the war and a withdrawal of its troops from Gaza but has said it is still willing to negotiate and was studying Witkoff's "bridging" proposals.

Palestinian health authorities say hundreds have been killed in the strikes, with at least 130 killed and 263 wounded in the last 48 hours.

The return to the air strikes and ground operations that have devastated Gaza has drawn calls for a ceasefire from Arab and European countries. Britain, France and Germany issued a joint statement calling on Israel to restore access for humanitarian aid.

Israel has blocked the entry of goods into Gaza and Falk accused Hamas of taking aid for its own use, a charge Hamas has previously denied.

"We stopped the supply going in because Hamas was stealing it for its own use," he said.

Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after a devastating Hamas attack on Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023 that killed some 1,200 people, according to an Israeli tally, and saw 251 abducted as hostages.

The Israeli campaign has killed more than 49,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities, and devastated much of the coastal enclave leaving hundreds of thousands of people in tents and makeshift shelters.

(Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by David Gregorio)