Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the number of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip had “decreased” due to Israel’s calls for civilians to move south.

Netanyahu added during an interview with CNN: “I think the number of civilian casualties has actually decreased because people are responding to our calls to leave the area.”

Netanyahu went on to say, "Hamas wants an endless series of (fire) pauses, which essentially dissipates the battle against it."

Netanyahu added that "there is no reason" not to evacuate patients from Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in Gaza.

Netanyahu added: “There is no reason why we should not get the patients out of there, instead of allowing Hamas to use it (the hospital) as a terrorist command center.”

Israel insists that Hamas uses hospitals and civilian infrastructure as shields for its attacks on Israel.

“We have asked for all patients to be evacuated from this hospital, and in fact 100 or so have already been evacuated,” he said.

Netanyahu stressed that Israel is helping patients "by creating safe corridors."

He explained that French President Emmanuel Macron sent a ship as a floating hospital, and Netanyahu said: “I asked the UAE to send a field hospital.”

Netanyahu added: "It is clear that we are treading carefully when it comes to hospitals, but we also will not grant immunity to terrorists. We want to keep all civilians out of harm's way, and Hamas is doing everything it can to keep them in harm's way."

When asked about Israel's post-war plans in Gaza, Netanyahu appeared to rule out handing control over to the Palestinian Authority, saying that the Palestinian Authority had failed to "disarm" and "de-radicalize" Gaza in the past.

Netanyahu added that Israel's first priority is to destroy Hamas.

Once this is achieved, Netanyahu continued, there must be a "dominant Israeli military presence" to avoid the return of terrorism.

He said that "the civil authority must cooperate to achieve two goals: the first is to demilitarize Gaza, and the second is to remove extremism from Gaza."

He explained: "I must say that the Palestinian Authority has unfortunately failed in both matters."

“We must give Gaza a better future, and let us not return it to a failed past,” he said, adding: “Let us create a different reality there.”

The Israeli Prime Minister refused to answer whether he would bear responsibility for the failure to prevent the October 7 attack on Israel, saying that there would be time for such “difficult” questions once the war ended.

In the interview, Netanyahu acknowledged that this was “a question that must be asked.” “And we will answer all these questions,” he said, adding: “Right now, I think what we have to do is unite the country for one goal: achieving victory.” He added: "Let's focus on victory. This is my responsibility now."

Regarding the hostages, Netanyahu said that Israel is “doing everything in its power around the clock” to release more than 200 hostages held by Hamas. He added: "This is one of our goals in the war. The first is to destroy Hamas and the second is to return our hostages."

When asked if he was doing enough, Netanyahu said: “We are doing everything we can around the clock, and I cannot, you know, talk about that.”

He added: "I have personally met the families of the hostages several times, and this is heartbreaking."

Netanyahu said that "the whole world must join us" in trying to release the hostages, and stressed that the only ceasefire that would be considered "is the one during which our hostages are released."