Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview published Thursday that he was “sorry” that Hamas was able to carry out its October 7 attack, without explicitly taking responsibility.

Netanyahu, who has resisted making an apology for security failures over Israel’s worst-ever attack and focused on destroying Hamas, was asked if he would apologize during an interview with Time magazine.

“Apologize?” he was quoted as replying.

“Of course, of course. I am sorry, deeply, that something like this happened. And you always look back and you say, ‘Could we have done things that would have prevented it?’” he said.

The right-wing leader is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister and has long billed himself as a staunch protector of Israel’s security.

Shortly after the October 7 attack, Netanyahu posted on social media that intelligence services had failed to anticipate the Hamas operation and warn him.

He deleted and apologized for that post after numerous Israelis accused him of deflecting blame and jeopardizing national unity.

Prioritizing ending Hamas over hostage release

On October 7, the militant group carried out the deadliest attack in Israel’s history. A total of 1,198 people died, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Palestinian militants seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 39 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,677 people, according to the territory’s health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.

Netanyahu reiterated that the goal of the Gaza war is to eliminate Hamas so that it doesn’t pose any future threats to Israel.

Asked whether he was willing to accept a ceasefire deal that would release all of the hostages, but that wouldn’t end Hamas’s control of the Gaza Strip, he said “No, I don’t think that.”

“And I think there’s a vast consensus in Israel that if we did that, we’ll just have a repetition. There’ll be future hostage taking, there’ll be a future October 7, and actually worse things that could happen.”

“The only option was for Israel to achieve both goals: Releasing all the hostages and win the war.”

Ending the war?

Netanyahu told The Times that he “wants to end the war,” and that he would that by “tomorrow, if I could,” but it was essential for Hamas to lose Gaza.

“Why do we need that? Because Hamas, the Hamas enclave, the Iranian terrorist enclave, is 40 miles from Tel Aviv, okay? To leave them in place not only means that they would have the ability to repeat the savagery of October 7, but go well beyond that,” he said.

“When they act in unison with the Iran terror axis, with Hezbollah in the north, with the Houthis and others who are firing at us simultaneously, that’s something that is unacceptable.”

Haniyeh’s assassination

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated last week while in Iran. Although Israeli officials have not claimed responsibility, Iran blames the assassination on Israel and has vowed a response.

“I’ve said that we’re not going to comment on that, and I haven’t changed my views,” Netanyahu said refusing to comment on whether Israel was behind his killing.

Netanyahu also rejected claims that Israel was escalating tensions in the region in order to sabotage the ceasefire deal, saying it was essential to show Iran that “we are not lambs.”

“We’re faced with a noose of death that Iran is trying to place around our neck, and I think the message we’re sending, 360 degrees, is that we’re not going to be lambs led to the slaughter. Israel is not, is not a sacrificial lamb for the Iranians or for their proxies.”