GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories, July 4, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to bring home all the hostages still held by 'militants' in war-stricken Gaza, where the civil defence agency said 73 people were killed Thursday in his country's ongoing offensive.

Netanyahu has come under strong pressure to get the hostages back after US President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed to a 60-day ceasefire with Palestinian militant group Hamas that could lead to their release.

"I feel a deep commitment, first and foremost, to ensure the return of all our abductees, all of them," Netanyahu told inhabitants of the Nir Oz kibbutz, the community that saw the most hostages seized in the 2023 Hamas attacks that sparked the war.

"We will bring them all back," he added, in filmed comments released by his office.

Netanyahu is due to meet Trump in Washington DC next week, with the US president expected to push for a ceasefire.

"I want the people of Gaza to be safe more importantly," Trump told reporters Thursday when asked if he still wanted the US to take over the Palestinian territory, as he announced in February. "They've gone through hell."

Israel's leaders have held firm to their aim of crushing Hamas, even as the group said Tuesday it was discussing new proposals for a ceasefire from mediators.

- Israeli offensive expands -
Israel has recently expanded its military operations in the Gaza Strip, where its war on Hamas militants has created dire humanitarian conditions and displaced nearly all of the territory's population of more than two million.

Many have sought shelter in school buildings, but these have repeatedly come under Israeli attacks that the military often says target Hamas militants hiding among civilians.

Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said those killed Thursday included 15 in a strike on a school sheltering Palestinians displaced by the war.

In an updated toll on Thursday evening, he told AFP that 73 people were killed across the territory by Israeli strikes, artillery or gunfire.

They included 38 people he said were waiting for humanitarian aid at three separate locations in central and southern Gaza, and a child killed by a drone in Jabalia in the north.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency.