JERUSALEM – Israel carried out renewed attacks on Gaza on Sunday as its leadership came under increasing pressure to secure the release of hostages still held in Hamas-controlled territory more than two months after the Oct. 7 attacks.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced protests on Saturday from relatives of the hostages who demanded an urgent deal to secure their freedom after the army admitted it had mistakenly killed three prisoners in Gaza.

The trio were among an estimated 250 people taken hostage during Hamas’ raids in Israel on October 7, with around 1,140 people also killed, according to the latest figures from Israeli authorities.

According to Hamas, 18,800 people, mostly women and children, were killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive in the Gaza Strip.

At a protest in Tel Aviv on Saturday, relatives of hostages gathered to call on the government for a deal.

“Be considerate of us and develop a plan (for negotiations) now,” Noam Perry, daughter of hostage Haim Perry, said at the protest.

More than 100 of the Israelis and foreigners arrested by Hamas and other militants on October 7 were released last month in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners during a week-long ceasefire brokered by Qatar.

Netanyahu redoubled his war effort on Saturday, telling reporters of the deaths of the three hostages: “It broke my heart. It broke the heart of the entire nation.”

“With all the sadness, I want to make it clear: military pressure is necessary both for the return of the abductees and for the victory over our enemies,” he added.

At least 12 people were killed in Israeli attacks on the central city of Deir al-Balah on Sunday, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza.

Witnesses also reported Israeli air and artillery strikes on the southern community of Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Yunis, the Gaza Strip’s second-largest city.

On Saturday, Netanyahu appeared to address Qatar’s efforts to reach a new ceasefire.

“We have serious criticism of Qatar, which you will probably hear about in due course, but at the moment we are trying to complete the recovery of our hostages,” he said.

In a statement on Saturday, Qatar reiterated its “ongoing diplomatic efforts to renew the humanitarian pause.”

But Hamas said in the Telegram that it was “opposed to any negotiations on the exchange of prisoners until the aggression against our people completely ceases.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said late Saturday he was traveling to Israel, Bahrain and Qatar to highlight Washington’s “commitments to strengthening regional security and stability.”

News platform Axios said Israeli intelligence chief David Barnea met on Friday at an unspecified European location with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who helped negotiate the earlier ceasefire.

“Hunger, illness, weak immunity”

The Israeli bombing of Gaza has left much of the territory in ruins, and the UN estimates that 1.9 million Gazans have been displaced by the war.

The United Nations said this week that hunger and desperation were driving people to confiscate humanitarian aid delivered to Gaza and warned of a “collapse of civil order.”

International aid organizations are struggling to deliver relief supplies to the desperate people of the Gaza Strip.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if people died of hunger or a combination of hunger, disease and weak immunity,” said Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.

The agency reported a “prolonged communications blackout” across the Gaza Strip that began Thursday evening and has continued for the past 48 hours.

US President Joe Biden, whose administration is providing billions of dollars in military aid to Israel, has expressed growing concern about civilian deaths.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock wrote in the Sunday Times that the “need” for a “sustainable ceasefire” in Gaza was “urgent.”

Facing increasing international pressure, Israel announced a “temporary measure” to allow aid deliveries directly to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing.

Heavy fighting raged in Gaza on Saturday. The Israeli army said it raided two schools in northern Gaza City that were believed to be Hamas hideouts.

The Israeli army said on Sunday that two more soldiers had been killed in Gaza, bringing the total to 121 since ground operations began in late October.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said a Christian mother and daughter were shot dead by an Israeli soldier on the grounds of Gaza’s only Catholic church.

In the city of Khan Yunis, dozens of journalists attended a funeral for Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa, who was killed in an Israeli attack, according to his news organization.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, more than 60 journalists and media workers have died since the start of the war.

DISTURBANCE IN THE RED SEA

The war continues to be felt across the Middle East and has raised fears of a wider conflict.

Israel has regularly exchanged fire with militants, particularly the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah, on its northern border with Lebanon.

The Israeli army said on Saturday that one soldier was killed and two others were injured in the Margaliot area on the Lebanese border.

A spokesman confirmed to AFP that the casualties were caused by an “enemy aircraft”.

The conflict has also caused significant disruption to the crucial Red Sea shipping route between Asia and Europe. Two other major companies said they were rerouting their ships after repeated attacks by Yemeni rebels allied with Hamas.

The action by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and CMA CGM follows similar moves by Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd on Friday.

This came after Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen carried out repeated attacks on passing ships in recent days.

The rebels also launched a wave of 14 disposable attack drones on Saturday, all of which “were shot down with no damage to ships in the area or reports of injuries,” the U.S. military’s Central Command said.