Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday offered to let Hamas leaders leave Gaza but demanded the group abandon its arms, as his country kept up its bombardment of the Palestinian territory.

Gaza’s civil defense agency said an Israeli air strike on a house and tent sheltering displaced Palestinians killed at least eight people, including five children.

The strike hit Khan Yunis on the first day of Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Samah Dahliz, 38, whose young relative was among the dead, said: “What kind of Eid is this that we are going through?”

“He’s a child, his parents had bought him new clothes for Eid to make him happy,” she told AFP.

“They bombed them in their tent while they were sleeping.”

Israel resumed intense bombing of Gaza on 18 March and then launched a new ground offensive, ending a nearly two-month ceasefire in the war with Hamas.

Rejecting domestic criticism that the government was not engaging in diplomacy to release hostages, Netanyahu argued the renewed military pressure was proving effective.

“We are negotiating under fire... We can see cracks beginning to appear” in Hamas’ positions, the Israeli leader told a cabinet meeting.

In the “final stage,” Netanyahu said that “Hamas will lay down its weapons. Its leaders will be allowed to leave.”

Hamas has expressed a willingness to relinquish Gaza’s administration, but has warned its weapons are a “red line.”

Egypt, Qatar and the United States are attempting to again broker a ceasefire and secure the release of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.

A senior Hamas official stated on Saturday that the group had approved a new ceasefire proposal put forward by mediators, and urged Israel to support it.

Netanyahu’s office confirmed receipt of the proposal and stated that Israel had submitted a counterproposal in response.

The details of the latest mediation efforts have not been disclosed.

French President Emmanuel Macron urged Netanyahu to “put an end to the strikes on Gaza and return to the ceasefire,” adding in a post on X after a phone call with the Israeli leader that “humanitarian aid must be delivered again immediately.”