Former President Donald Trump is urging Israeli authorities to “finish up” their offensive into the Gaza region, saying that the world is turning against their campaign.
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president in 2024, sat down for an interview with Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom about the ongoing military invasion — and warned that the world was growing tired of the conflict.
“You have to finish up your war. You have to finish it up. You’ve got to get it done,” he told the newspaper.
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Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Rome, Georgia. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
He continued, “We’ve got to get to peace. You can’t have this going on, and I will say Israel has to be very careful because you are losing a lot of the world. You are losing a lot of support.”
Israel has been waging an offensive in the Gaza region since the days following the Oct. 7 massacre — the massive terrorist attack launched by Hamas that killed over 1,200 Israelis citizens.
Meanwhile, relations between President Biden’s administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government continue to fray.
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An Israeli soldier on top a tank on the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel. (AP)
Netanyahu has vowed that an invasion into the city of Rafah is imminent, with or without U.S. approval.
“That’s a terrible portrait. It’s a very bad picture for the world,” Trump told the newspaper about Israel’s ground offensive. “I think Israel wanted to show that it’s tough, but sometimes you shouldn’t be doing that.”
Palestinian casualties in the conflict following Oct. 7 have passed 30,000, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health.
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Palestinians gather to perform the first Friday noon prayer of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in front of the ruins of Al-Farouq Mosque, which was destroyed in an Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. (MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump was also sharply critical of the Biden administration’s handling of the conflict during the interview, claiming Hamas would not have committed the Oct. 7 massacre if he had been in office.
“He can’t talk. He’s a very dumb person. He’s a dumb person. His foreign policy throughout 50 years has been horrible,” he told Israel Hayom. “If you look at people that were in other administrations with him, they saw him as a weak, ineffective president, they [Hamas] would have never done that attack if I were there.”
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
