Netanyahu says war’s intensive phase nears an end

JERUSALEM — The intensive phase of Israel’s war against Hamas is “about to end,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Sunday night interview on Israeli television, although he said that did not mean the conflict was coming to a close.

After the operation in Rafah, the Gaza’s Strip’s southernmost city and the latest focus of Israel’s ground offensive, Netanyahu said, Israel would keep “mowing the lawn” — a term long used in Israeli security circles to denote the use of force aimed at curtailing the regrowth of militant organizations.

Netanyahu’s remarks were the latest suggestion by senior Israeli officials that the war could soon enter a period of change.

As Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant prepared to depart for an official visit to Washington on Saturday, he said his meetings with Biden administration officials would include discussion of “the transition to ‘Phase C’ in Gaza,” which he called “of great importance.” Gallant’s office said that he met with a Biden administration adviser, Amos Hochstein, on Sunday, and would meet Monday with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and CIA Director William Burns; on Tuesday with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin; and on Wednesday with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

Last October, about three weeks into the war, Gallant outlined a three-phase battle plan, beginning with a period of intense airstrikes against Hamas targets and infrastructure followed by an intermediate period of ground operations aimed at “eliminating pockets of resistance.”

The third phase, Gallant said at the time, would be to create “a new security reality for the citizens of Israel” — presumably by achieving the stated goals of dismantling Hamas’ military and governing capabilities in Gaza.

While Israel’s military says it is close to dismantling or seriously degrading Hamas’ military infrastructure, the government has not proposed any clear plan for the civilian administration of Gaza after the war.

Netanyahu suggested in the interview that a civilian administration would involve local Palestinians, hopefully with the help of moderate Arab nations. The Israeli military would have to maintain overall security control of the enclave, he said.

The prime minister continued to rule out a proposal that has been pushed by the Biden administration: handing over Gaza to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in parts of the occupied West Bank.

To get to the “day after Hamas,” Netanyahu said, “first you have to eliminate Hamas” — reiterating his long-standing position that the armed group be fully eradicated, a goal that many experts say is unattainable.

The prime minister’s remarks came in a 44-minute interview he granted “The Patriots,” a populist and often divisive nightly talk show on Channel 14, a right-wing Israeli television station that caters to Netanyahu’s voter base.

Netanyahu has rarely been interviewed in Hebrew for an Israeli audience since the start of the war. He has faced criticism domestically for granting frequent interviews to American networks while mostly engaging with Israelis through sporadic televised statements and news conferences or via video clips.

Netanyahu also addressed the stalled cease-fire negotiations during the interview, suggesting at one point that he was willing to strike a “partial” deal for the return of only some of the 120 hostages being held in Gaza — a statement that was quickly walked back by his office.

The prime minister said he was ready to agree to a temporary truce and the release of some of the hostages, then subsequently resuming the war. That proposition appeared to contradict an Israeli proposal that was approved last month by Netanyahu and his war Cabinet for a phased deal that would release all the hostages and usher in a permanent cease-fire — a proposal that was endorsed by President Joe Biden and the United Nations Security Council.

But at another point in Sunday’s interview, Netanyahu said he was committed to bringing back all remaining hostages, at least a third of whom Israel has said have died in captivity.

In a brief statement issued after the interview, Netanyahu’s office said it was Hamas that opposed a deal, not Israel, adding: “Prime Minister Netanyahu has made it clear that we will not leave Gaza until we return all 120 of our hostages, living and deceased.”

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