Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that total victory in Gaza had been achieved and rejected a ceasefire offer by Hamas to free hostages and achieve peace, Reuters reported.

Netanyahu renewed his pledge to destroy the Palestinian Islamist movement, saying there was no alternative for Israel but to bring down Hamas.

“The day after is the day after Hamas. All of Hamas,” he told a news conference, insisting that a total victory over Hamas was the only solution to the war in Gaza.

Hamas has proposed a four-and-a-half-month ceasefire in Gaza during which all hostages would be released and Israel would withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip in order to reach an agreement to end the war.

The Hamas proposal, first reported by Reuters, is a response to an earlier proposal drawn up by US and Israeli intelligence chiefs and delivered to Hamas last week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken discussed the proposal with Netanyahu after arriving in Israel following talks with the leaders of Qatar and Egypt, the countries that acted as mediators. Blinken later met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.

Netanyahu also said Wednesday that a solution must be found on Israel’s northern border, where fighting with Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon has forced tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes.

He said that Israel could not tolerate the presence of nearly 100,000 evacuees in its country and that its enemies knew that a solution – either diplomatic or military – had to be found.