Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that Israel was prepared to pause fighting in Gaza for a partial deal in exchange for the return of a number of hostages held by Hamas, but insisted the war will not end until the terror group is destroyed.

Netanyahu also said the phase of intense fighting in the Gaza Strip was winding down as Israel increasingly readies for a potential flareup Lebanon’s Hezbollah intensifies its cross-border attacks on Israel, in his first interview with a Hebrew-language outlet since Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught.

Asked whether he was prepared to reach an agreement with Hamas after the high-intensity phase of the conflict is over that would constitute a commitment to end the war, Netanyahu said: “No. I’m not prepared to end the war and leave Hamas in place. I am prepared to do a partial deal, that’s no secret, that would return some of the people to us.”

“But we are obligated to continue the fighting after a pause in order to complete our goal of destroying Hamas,” he told the right-wing Channel 14 program “The Patriots.” “I’m not prepared to give up on that.”

Sources involved in the latest round of hostage talks slammed the premier’s remarks, telling the Haaretz daily “Netanyahu clarified today that he is not interested in the release of all the hostages — the demand he himself is making of Hamas — and is not prepared to provide the goods that Hamas is demanding.”

“In such a situation,” [Hamas chief in Gaza Yahya] Sinwar has no motivation to advance a deal,” one of the sources was quoted as saying.

An Israeli official cited by the Walla news site issued similar criticism, saying “Netanyahu’s comments this evening caused tremendous damage to the chances for reaching a deal.”

Hamas kidnapped 251 people on October 7, when thousands of terrorists led by the group stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people, sparking the war in Gaza. It is believed that 116 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, though dozens are believed dead.

Netanyahu’s comments were also denounced by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which accused him of withdrawing his support for an Israeli proposal being pushed by the US, which the current negotiations are based on.

“We strongly condemn the prime minister’s statement in which he walked back from the Israeli proposal. This means he is abandoning 120 hostages and harms the moral duty of the state of Israel to its citizens,” the group said in a statement.

Netanyahu’s office released a statement later Sunday saying that it Hamas that was rejecting the deal on offer, not Israel.

“Hamas is the one opposing the deal, not Israel,” the Prime Minister’s Office said. “Netanyahu made it clear that we will not leave Gaza until we return all 120 of our hostages, both living and dead.”

Hamas meanwhile charged that Netanyahu’s comments amounted to a rejection of the proposal unveiled by US President Joe Biden in late May, reiterating its demand that any agreement include a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war sparked by its October 7 attack.

Netanyahu however made clear during the interview that the war will continue until Hamas no longer controls Gaza, as he declared the intensity of Israeli operations in the enclave would soon wind down.

Once the intense fighting is over in Gaza, Netanyahu said, Israel will be able to deploy more forces along the northern front.

“The intense phase of the fighting against Hamas is about to end,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that the war is about to end, but the war in its intense phase is about to end in Rafah.”

“After the end of the intense phase” in Gaza, the prime minister added, Israel will “redeploy some forces to the north… primarily for defensive purposes.”

Addressing the possibility of a full-blown war with Hezbollah, Netanyahu said he hoped there would be a diplomatic solution but was bracing for the possibility there won’t be.

“We will meet this challenge too. We can fight on several fronts, we are prepared for this,” he stated.

Netanyahu vowed Israel will any enforce any deal with Hezbollah to ensure that its forces are not on the border, saying, “it won’t be an agreement on paper.”

“It will include the physical distancing of Hezbollah from the border, and we will need to enforce it… We are committed to returning the residents of the north to their homes,” he added.

According to Netanyahu, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told him there is hope for a diplomatic solution after their trip to Washington last week.

Netanyahu was also asked about Israel’s ability to withstand strikes on its power grid, after a senior electricity official warned last week that Israel is not ready for all-out war with Hezbollah. The premier pledged “there will be no catastrophe.”

“We are working to protect it, unique protections that I cannot go into,” he said.

Turning to post-war scenarios for Gaza, Netanyahu said it was “clear” that Israel will maintain “military control in the foreseeable future.”

“We also want to create a civilian administration, if possible with local Palestinians” and regional backing “to manage humanitarian supply and later on civilian affairs in the Strip,” added Netanyahu.

The prime minister declined to say who would rule Hamas after the war, saying only that the army had approached him five months ago with the idea of using local clans to rule the Strip.

“Now they brought me another plan, which we are trying,” said Netanyahu, who is opposed to the Palestinian Authority’s return to Gaza. “I won’t go into details so that it will work.”

Netanyahu ruled out the reestablishment of Israeli settlements in Gaza, as a number of his far-right coalition partners have called for.

“Settlement in Gaza is unrealistic and does not actualize the war aims,” he said.

During the interview, Netanyahu also lashed out at his political rivals, slamming National Unity party leaders Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot for leaving the government earlier this month and attacked the war leadership they were recently part of. “There need to be limits to the opposition as well,” he said.

He added, “no one will rush to topple the government in the middle of a war,” claiming the fall of the government would bring about a left-wing coalition that would create a Palestinian state, a charge he has made for years.

Asked if calls by IDF reservists to stop performing volunteer duty, in light of the government’s controversial judicial overhaul legislation, had led in part to the October 7 Hamas onslaught, Netanyahu responded that the months of anti-government protests were “a disaster,” which “came from the left.”

“I said it [protests] endangered Israel at the time,” said Netanyahu, charging that the calls were “an important factor” in the failures surrounding the October 7 massacre, “but not the main factor.”

Netanyahu denounced the current protests against the government, calling on demonstrators “to get a grip” as “this is the time for unity.”

“Their goal every time is to topple the government and there’s another excuse,” he says in apparent reference to demonstrations in recent years over the judicial overhaul and his ongoing trial on corruption charges. “I don’t think this reflects most of the nation. I appeal to most of the nation and say, this is the time for unity.”

He also refused to address the lead-up to the October 7 atrocities, which he has repeatedly refused to accept any responsibility for, while again forcibly denying that he ascribed to a “conception” that the terror group was deterred.

“There is no point at the moment to address the days before the onslaught. This is isn’t the time to discuss this, there will be time to discuss this after we finish this intense war,” said Netanyahu.