Netanyahu says Israel is scaling back its operations in the Gaza Strip, but warns a Lebanon war could come next.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the current phase of the fight against Hamas in the Gaza Strip is coming to an end, setting the stage for Israel to send more troops to the northern border to confront the Lebanese militant group. Hezbollah.

The comments threaten to further escalate tensions between Israel and Hezbollah at a time when they appear to be moving ever closer to war. Netanyahu also signaled that there is no end in sight to the grueling war in Gaza.

The Israeli president said in a long television interview that although the army was close to completing its current ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, this did not mean that the War against Hamas is over. However, he said fewer troops were needed in Gaza to free up forces to fight Hezbollah.

“We will have the opportunity to move some of our troops north, and we will do that,” he told Israel’s Channel 14, a pro-Netanyahu television station, in an interview frequently interrupted by applause from the studio audience. “First and foremost for defense,” he added, but also to allow tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to return to their homes.

Iran-backed Hezbollah began attacking Israel almost immediately after Hamas launched a cross-border attack on October 7 that sparked the Gaza war. Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire almost daily since then, but fighting has escalated in recent weeks, raising fears of a full-scale war.

Hezbollah is much stronger than Hamas, and opening a new front would increase the risk of a larger, region-wide war involving other Iranian proxies and possibly Iran itself. This war could cause severe damage and numerous casualties on both sides of the border.

White House envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region last week and met with Israeli and Lebanese officials to try to ease tensions, but fighting continues.

Netanyahu expressed hope that a diplomatic solution to the crisis could be found, but vowed to solve the problem “in other ways” if necessary. “We can fight on several fronts and we are ready to do that,” he said.

He said a deal would not just be “an agreement on paper.” He said it would require Hezbollah to move far from the border, an enforcement mechanism to be set up and Israelis to be returned to their homes. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated shortly after the fighting broke out and have been unable to return home.

Hezbollah has said it will continue to fight Israel until a ceasefire is reached in Gaza. The group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, warned Israel last week against starting a war and said Hezbollah has new weapons and intelligence capabilities This could help target even more critical positions inside Israel.

Hezbollah has already introduced new weapons during the fighting, including hard-to-defend attack drones that strike without warning. An Israeli soldier was seriously injured in a drone attack on Sunday.

But Israel claims it has shown Hezbollah only a small part of its overall capabilities and that Lebanon will become a second Gaza Strip in the event of war. Israel’s army said last week it had “approved and confirmed” a new plan for an offensive in Lebanon.

In the interview, Netanyahu said that the Israeli offensive in Gaza is winding down. The Israeli army has been operating in the southern border town since 2008 Rafah since early May. It said it had inflicted heavy damage on Hamas in Rafah, the last remaining Hamas stronghold after a brutal war that lasted nearly nine months. But he said Israel must continue its “mowing operations” – targeted attacks aimed at preventing Hamas from regrouping.

Israel launched its air and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip immediately after the October 7 Hamas attack that killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 others hostage.

The Israeli offensive has killed over 37,000 Palestinians, triggered a humanitarian crisis and triggered war crimes and genocide cases at the world’s best dishes in The Hague.

It has also increased tensions with the United States, with President Joe Biden and Netanyahu have clashed publicly during the war. On Sunday, Netanyahu reiterated his claim that there had been a “dramatic decline” in arms supplies from the United States, Israel’s closest ally, which was hampering the war effort.

Biden delays delivery certain heavy bombs have stalled since May over fears that there could be large-scale civilian casualties, but his government last week rejected Netanyahu’s accusation that other deliveries had also been affected.

Although the United States and other mediators are pushing for a ceasefire, Netanyahu has ruled out ending the war unless Israel releases all hostages held by Hamas and destroys Hamas’s military and government capabilities.

The current phase of the war “is nearing its end,” Netanyahu said. “But that does not mean that the war will soon be over.”

Netanyahu spoke as his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, was in Washington to discuss the war and tensions with Lebanon with American officials. And next month, Netanyahu is invited to speak before Congress for a speech that is already dividing Washington along partisan lines. Some Democrats, angered by Netanyahu’s public spat with Biden, say You will not participate.

American politicians are also urging Netanyahu to present a clear post-war plan for Gaza. The US has said it will not accept a long-term Israeli occupation of the territory.

Netanyahu articulated a very different vision. He said the only way to guarantee Israel’s security was for Israel to maintain military control over the area.

“There is no one else” capable of doing this, he said. But he said he was looking for a way to create a Palestinian “civil administration” to run day-to-day affairs in Gaza, hopefully with the support of moderate Arab countries. He ruled out any role for the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, which was forcibly expelled from Gaza by Hamas in 2007.

Netanyahu said the Israeli army considered working with prominent Palestinian families in Gaza several months ago, but Hamas immediately “destroyed” them. He said Israel was now considering other options.

Netanyahu ruled out an option favored by some of his ultranationalist coalition partners – the relocation of Israelis in Gaza. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, ending a 38-year presence.

“The question of an agreement is not realistic,” he said. “I am realistic.”