Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced skepticism about the notion that a multinational force meant to patrol Gaza could successfully disarm Hamas, though he vowed disarmament would occur while touting Israel’s strength.

The remarks, made Sunday evening to a meeting of Israel’s ambassadors in Jerusalem, came after the premier had said earlier in the day that the first phase of the ceasefire in the Strip was close to finished. The second phase, as laid out in a 20-point plan for Gaza presented by US President Donald Trump, outlines governing arrangements for the enclave.

The plan envisions Hamas disarming, a Palestinian technocratic body managing Gaza’s affairs, and a multinational force deploying there as the IDF withdraws. Israel has demanded Hamas’s disarmament as a condition for moving forward with the plan.

In his remarks to the ambassadors, Netanyahu suggested that the multinational force, called the International Stabilization Force, might not be able to force the terror group to lay down its weapons.

“In the second phase, we are moving to disarmament and demilitarization,” he said, adding that he had said “Go ahead” when presented with the idea of the multinational force.

“We know that there are certain missions that this force could do,” he continued. “There are certain things they can’t do, maybe the main task they can’t do, but we will see.”

But he vowed that Hamas would be disarmed, repeating a phrase he has used multiple times when discussing disarmament.

“We can do it the easy way, or the hard way,” he said. “But in the end it will be done.”

Disarmament has proven to be one of the toughest issues in the negotiations over the second phase of the Gaza plan. Hamas has previously vowed not to lay down its weapons, though on Sunday one of its senior officials said the terror group was ready to discuss “freezing or storing” its weapons for a period of years as part of a process aimed toward establishing a Palestinian state.

But the official, Bassem Naim, said the multinational force could not be the one tasked with disarming Hamas.

“We are welcoming a UN force to be near the borders, supervising the ceasefire agreement, reporting about violations, preventing any kind of escalations,” he told the Associated Press. “But we don’t accept that these forces have any kind of mandates authorizing them to do or to be implemented inside the Palestinian territories.”

At a press conference earlier on Sunday with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Netanyahu said that the first phase of the ceasefire in Gaza is “almost” complete. The ceasefire stipulated that Hamas release all hostages, living and deceased. The remains of one slain hostage, Ran Gvili, are still held in Gaza, and Netanyahu has vowed to see his body returned to Israel.

Netanyahu said he would discuss phase two of the plan with Trump during his White House visit later this month.

Trump has pushed for a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and in his speech to the diplomats, Netanyahu dismissed media reports that certain peace deals cannot happen without Israel doing things first – a likely reference to the Saudi demand that Israel commit to an eventual Palestinian state.

“The opportunities are there because of the tectonic changes we made in the balance of power in the Middle East,” he said.

“We no longer have a policy of containment,” he added. “We identify a threat, and we act.”

He also referenced his philosophy of “peace through strength,” and claimed Israel was unprecedentedly strong. That strength is a key factor in other countries’ decisions to make peace with Israel, he argued.

“With the strong, pacts are made. With the strong, peace is made,” he said.

“Israel is stronger than ever,” Netanyahu continued. “It is a superpower – certainly regional. In several fields, it is a world power.”

He claimed that Israel has become stronger militarily and economically since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack, and that “as a result, we have increased our diplomatic strength.”

Netanyahu also related that Trump admired the Israeli public as well as its military.

“He was also amazed by the decisions we made” during the war, the premier said to the ambassadors.

“All of these things made it clear to him that there is a very strong country here,” he continued, “and a very strong army,” which brings Israel’s allies closer to it. “Israel revealed that it’s not only a strong country, but an unusually strong country,” he said.

He added that Israel is embarking on an independent military build-up through its defense industries, but stressed that he was not proposing an “autarkic economy.”

In September, Netanyahu sparked a firestorm by saying that Israel could become a “super-Sparta” that “will increasingly need to adapt to an economy with autarkic characteristics.” He later, saying they referred to defense production.

Israel is “flooded” with requests from foreign countries for its weapons, he told the diplomats.