JERUSALEM

The coordinator for the Israeli hostages in Gaza file, Nitzan Alon, asked their families to intensify pressure on the Israeli political leadership to reach a prisoner swap deal, media reports said Friday.

Israeli public broadcaster KAN said Alon sent a message via one of his aides to the families.

It added that the families had an impression that there are within the government that is slow and preventing a prisoner swap deal.

Hamas armed wing said Friday that seven more captives had been killed during Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll of captives from Israeli strikes since Oct. 7 to nearly 70.

"We confirm that the number of enemy prisoners who were killed as a result of the military operations of the enemy army in the Gaza Strip may exceed seventy prisoners," the group said in a statement.

Israel believes 134 Israelis are being held in Gaza after a Feb. 12 army raid managed to free two Israelis held in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israel has launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following an attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. The ensuing Israeli bombardment has killed more than 30,200 and injured over 70,400 with mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara