Netanyahu warns Hamas Israeli strikes on Gaza 'only the beginning'

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that a wave of deadly overnight strikes on Gaza was "only the beginning" of renewed Israeli action in the Palestinian territory.

"Hamas has already felt the strength of our arm in the past 24 hours. And I want to promise you –- and them –- this is only the beginning," Netanyahu said in a televised address.

"From now on, negotiations will take place only under fire," he said, adding: "Military pressure is essential for the release of additional hostages".

Tuesday's strikes, by far the largest since a truce took effect in January, killed more than 400 people across the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Israel vowed to keep fighting until the return of all the hostages seized by Hamas.

Of the 251 hostages seized, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Hostage families accused Netanyahu of "sacrificing" their relatives' lives by ordering the intensive strikes.

"Military pressure will not save the hostages – we know this from our own experience", former hostage Yair Horn said in a statement to the press in Tel Aviv Tuesday, along with other former hostages and relatives.

Hamas, which has not responded militarily so far, accused Israel of attempting to force it to "surrender".

The United Nations and countries around the world condemned the strikes, while the families of Israeli hostages pleaded with Netanyahu to halt the violence, fearing for the fate of their loved ones.

During his evening address, Netanyahu denied accusations that the resumption of strikes in Gaza was driven by domestic political concerns.

"I hear the commentators spreading lies in the media, as if the IDF's (military) recommendations and actions are driven by political considerations," he said.

"They have no shame. They have no red lines. They simply echo Hamas propaganda time and time again," he added.

Netanyahu's critics accuse him of wanting to continue the war for his own political survival, without regard for the lives of hostages still held in Gaza.

The prime minister has so far refused to set up a national commission of inquiry into the October 7 attack, while his bid to dismiss a top security official, the head of the Shin Bet internal security agency Ronen Bar, had threatened to plunge Israel back into deep political crisis.

Netanyahu's government recently also moved to oust Israel's Attorney General and government judiciary advisor, Gali Baharav-Miara, a fierce defendant of the judiciary's independence.

Thousands marched in Tel Aviv Tuesday evening to protest Baharav-Miara and Bar's dismissal and called for Netanyahu to step down, AFP journalists reported.

In an editorial, former intelligence agency chief Tamir Pardo, warned of a "clear and immediate danger for Israel's security".