Trump urges Israel to ‘end’ Gaza offensive: ‘Peace must be achieved’

Former President Donald Trump said he would react like Israel did after the October 7 Hamas attack, but urged the country to “finish” its offensive in Gaza and “end it all.” Warnings about waning international support.

“You have to end your war. You have to end it. You have to finish it,” he said in an interview with Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom. “We have to have peace. You can’t let this continue and I would say Israel has to be very careful because you are losing a lot of the world. You are losing a lot of support.”

Trump, who became the presumptive Republican nominee earlier this month, has also leveled global criticism of Israel’s offensive while repeatedly attacking President Joe Biden’s handling of the conflict.

According to the newspaper’s transcript of the interview, Trump said Israel “made a very big mistake” in releasing photos and videos of its attack on Gaza and commented that the country’s public image was “ruined.” The shared video of the interview did not show those comments.

“It’s a horrific portrait. It’s a very bad picture for the world,” Trump said. “I think Israel wants to show that it’s hard, but sometimes you shouldn’t do it.”

Israel Hayom is widely seen as the spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Shortly after the attack in which Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages, Trump denounced Netanyahu for allegedly failing him during his time in the White House. He also said Netanyahu was “unprepared” to deal with a deadly invasion from Gaza.

According to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled areas, more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli offensives.

Trump also suggested again that American Jews were wrong to support Democrats, days after some Jewish advocates criticized Jewish Democrats for being unfaithful to their religion. He claimed Biden was “supporting the enemy.”