JERUSALEM — In a rare interview with an Israeli newspaper, the leader of Hamas in Gaza called for a cease-fire with Israel, calling it a “historic opportunity for change.”

In what appeared to be an effort to speak directly to the Israeli people, the Hamas official, Yehya Sinwar, said he did not want war with Israel, even as both sides geared up for an escalation along Israel’s volatile border with Gaza.

“A new war is in no one’s interest, certainly not our interest,” Mr. Sinwar said in the interview in the newspaper Yediot Ahronot. “Who really wants to confront a nuclear superpower with four slingshots? War doesn’t achieve anything.”

At the same time, he warned that in the current circumstances, “an explosion is inevitable.”

The interview, an excerpt of which was published Thursday, comes as tensions have increased between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.