In a televised press conference on Saturday, Netanyahu called the conflict an “existential war” that must be fought until victory, despite pressure and costs, and said Gaza would be demilitarised and under Israeli security control.

His statements came a day after Israeli forces mistakenly killed three of more than 100 captives.

Netanyahu stated Israel’s offensive in Gaza had helped clinch a partial hostage-release deal in November and promised to maintain intense military pressure on Hamas.

“The instruction I am giving the negotiating team is predicated on this pressure, without which we have nothing,” he added.

Netanyahu’s comments came after the chief of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, met the prime minister of Qatar, a country mediating between Israel and Hamas, and whose efforts resulted in a seven-day truce and exchange of hostages last month.

Earlier on Saturday, Qatar confirmed that talks were under way for a possible new truce.

Netanyahu sidestepped a question about the meeting reportedly held in Europe, but confirmed he had given instructions to the negotiating team.

“We have serious criticisms of Qatar … but right now we are trying to complete the recovery of our hostages,” he added.

A Hamas statement later said the group “affirms its position not to open any negotiations to exchange prisoners unless the aggression against our people stops once and for all”.

“The movement communicated this position to all mediators,” it noted.

On Friday, Israeli forces admitted to mistakenly killing three Hamas-held hostages, all in their 20s, in the Shijaiyah area of Gaza City, where the troops are engaged in fierce fighting with Hamas.

Israel continues to pound Gaza, killing nearly 19,000 Palestinians since October 7. Thousands more are feared buried under rubble.

The 10-week war has flattened much of northern Gaza and displaced 85 percent of the territory’s population of 2.3 million from their homes.

In a video statement on Saturday, Herzi Halevi, who is leading Israel’s war in Gaza, said the IDF bears full responsibility for the “painful event” and pledged to “do everything to prevent the recurrence of such cases in the continuation of the fighting”.

“The three hostages who survived seventy hellish days, moved towards the IDF soldiers, and were killed by our forces’ fire,” Halevi continued, adding that “they moved without shirts so that we would not suspect them of carrying a bomb on their bodies, and held a white cloth so that we would understand.”

“We did not succeed in this case. We feel the deep sorrow of the families for the deaths of the hostages,” he continued, stating that “the shooting at the hostages was carried out contrary to the open-fire regulations.”

“It is forbidden to shoot at those who raise a white flag and ask to surrender. But this shooting was carried out during combat and under pressure,” Halevi noted.

Yotam Haim, Samer Al-Talalka, and Alon Shamriz, all in their 20s, were kidnapped from Israeli communities during the Hamas attack on October 7.

An initial investigation has revealed that the three emerged shirtless from a building “tens of meters” away from a group of Israeli troops in the Gaza City neighborhood of Shejaiya, holding up a stick with a white cloth on it. They stood near the building, which had the words ‘help’ and ‘SOS’ spray-painted on the exterior walls.

According to an Israeli military official who spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity, one of the IDF soldiers felt threatened and opened fire, killing two of the men instantly. The third ran back to the building and screamed ‘help’ in Hebrew from inside, at which point the brigade commander ordered the troops to stop shooting, but another burst of fire fatally wounded him and he later died.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident a “terrible tragedy”. In a national address on Saturday, he indicated that there will be no change in Israel’s military campaign.

“We are as committed as ever to continue until the end, until we dismantle Hamas, until we return all our hostages,” he stated.

Critics, however, say the mistaken killing shows that the government is more concerned about eradicating Hamas than freeing the hostages, and some believe that public outrage over the incident may pressure the government into renewing negotiations with the Palestinian group over the remaining captives.

Around 250 Israeli captives were taken by Hamas during the incursion in October. More than 100 hostages were released during a short-lived ceasefire last month, with 129 people remaining in custody.