Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told troops in Gaza that they must apply “military pressure” to guarantee the return of hostages held in the Palestinian territory for over a year, AFP reports.

“The central issue here is to continue exerting as much pressure on Hamas as possible, in order to create the conditions necessary to ensure the return of the hostages. Your duty is to exert military pressure, and eliminate and imprison terrorists,” Gallant’s office reported him saying.