The head of Israeli diplomacy said on Monday that international pressure is mounting on Israel because of its military operations in the Gaza Strip and that efforts must be made to extend "the legitimacy" of these actions.

"We have two or three weeks before international pressure really intensifies, but the Foreign Office is trying to extend the window of legitimacy and the fighting will continue as long as necessary," said Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, quoted in a statement sent to the France-Presse news agency (AFP) by the official spokesman.

More than five weeks after the start of the war, triggered by the unprecedented attack by the Islamist group Hamas on Israeli soil on October 7, international humanitarian organizations have intensified their calls for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, which is being bombarded by Israel and where drinking water and medicines are desperately scarce, with humanitarian aid arriving only irregularly.

On Monday, the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid, Janez Lenarcic, called on Israel to implement "real" humanitarian pauses in the war against Hamas.

The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, insisted on the need for these humanitarian pauses to be "immediate" in order to guarantee the supply of essential aid, particularly fuel for hospitals.

Some 2.4 million people, 1.6 million of whom have been displaced since the start of the war, are in a catastrophic situation, according to the UN.

The fighting is particularly intense in the north of the Gaza Strip and in Gaza City, where several hospitals housing large numbers of displaced people are surrounded by clashes between Israeli soldiers and Hamas fighters.

According to the Hamas Health Ministry, since October 7, Israeli shelling has killed 11,180 people, mostly civilians, including 4,609 children, in the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas attack caused the death of around 1,200 Israelis, most of them civilians killed on October 7, according to the latest official Israeli figures.