Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will have “overall security responsibility” for Gaza for an “indefinite period” but agreed to consider short pauses in fighting to allow hostages to be released.

The Israeli president said only an occupation of the territory would prevent an “eruption of Hamas terror on a scale that we couldn’t imagine”, after his troops announced they had successfully cut off Gaza City from the rest of the Strip.

Mr Netanyahu repeated his refusal to hold a “general ceasefire” in the region in an interview on Monday, but said he would consider “tactical” pauses for “an hour here, an hour there” to allow for the release of hostages held by Hamas.

“I think Israel will, for an indefinite period, have the overall security responsibility because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have it,” Mr Netanyahu told ABC News in an interview.

“When we don’t have that security responsibility, what we have is the eruption of Hamas terror on a scale that we couldn’t imagine.”

His comments suggest that having completed a ground invasion of Gaza, Israel now intends to occupy the territory while it attacks Hamas tunnels and bases inside the city.

Israel would consider ‘tactical’ pauses

Following a diplomatic effort by the United States and some other countries, Mr Netanyahu also suggested he would consider limited “tactical” pauses in fighting to allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid – a request his administration has previously rejected.

“Well, there’ll be no ceasefire, general ceasefire, in Gaza without the release of our hostages,” he said.

“As far as tactical little pauses, an hour here, an hour there. We’ve had them before, I suppose, will check the circumstances in order to enable goods, humanitarian goods to come in, or our hostages, individual hostages to leave.

“But I don’t think there’s going to be a general ceasefire.”

Israel has previously refused calls from Western states, including the US, to hold a “humanitarian pause” in hostilities to let humanitarian aid into Gaza and for hostages to be released.

The interview came as the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) announced they had encircled Gaza City, effectively cutting the territory in half in an attempt to eliminate Hamas terrorists.

Richard Hecht, a military spokesman, said on Monday that Israeli troops had cut off Gaza City from the rest of the territory.

“We’ve completed our encirclement, separating Hamas strongholds in the north and the south, and it’s proving to be effective,” he said. “It’s close-quarters urban warfare. A lot of infantry working there.”

Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, concluded a visit to the Middle East on Monday, after attempts to ease the flow of humanitarian aid and convince potentially hostile states in the region not to join the conflict.

He said there had been “progress” in securing the passage of humanitarian aid trucks, which have been held up by sporadic blockades at the Rafah border crossing, between Gaza and Egypt.

Speaking at a joint press conference with his Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts on Saturday, Mr Blinken repeated his call for a “humanitarian pause” in fighting in Gaza, which has previously been rejected by the Israeli government.

He also continued to rule out a general ceasefire, backed by some other countries and the UN, which he said could be “counterproductive”.

“It is our view now that a ceasefire would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did,” Mr Blinken said.

His comments were not echoed by other ministers at the meeting, including Sameh Shoukry, the Egyptian foreign affairs minister.

“We cannot accept the justification as considered as the right of self-defence, collective punishment” of Palestinians in Gaza, Mr Shoukry said. “This cannot be a legitimate self-defence at all.”