Trump to Netanyahu: Win Gaza quickly because the killing must stop | News

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end Israel's war on Gaza as soon as possible, but he also criticized calls for a ceasefire.

“He (Netanyahu) knows what he's doing,” Trump told reporters at a news conference on Thursday. “I encouraged him to end it. It has to end quickly, but with a victory. Get your victory and end it. It has to stop. The killing has to stop.”

Trump was referring to his meeting with Netanyahu at his residence in late July, when Netanyahu visited the United States. He also met with President Joe Biden and Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris at the time.

During an event later Thursday on combating anti-Semitism, Trump criticized Biden and Harris' months-long calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.

“From the beginning, Harris has been tying Israel's hands behind its back, demanding an immediate ceasefire, always demanding a ceasefire,” Trump said.

He added that stopping the war “will only give Hamas time to regroup and launch a new attack similar to the October 7 attack.”

“I will give Israel the support it needs to win, but I want them to win quickly,” he said, adding that Tel Aviv faces a public relations problem that gets worse the longer the war continues.

“Thugs and extremists”

At the same event, Trump also described pro-Palestinian activists calling for an end to U.S. support for Israel's war as “Hamas thugs” and “extremist sympathizers.” He threatened to arrest and deport them from the United States if he became president.

Netanyahu and Trump's offices, in separate statements on Thursday, denied an Axios report that they had spoken the previous day about talks on a Gaza ceasefire and the release of prisoners.

The Axios report was based on statements by two American sources. One of them said that Trump’s call was intended to encourage Netanyahu to accept the deal, but said he did not know if that was what the former president actually told Netanyahu.

Yesterday, Thursday, a round of talks between the Palestinian resistance and Israel began in the Qatari capital, Doha, at the joint invitation of the leaders of Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, after more than 10 months had passed since the Israeli war on Gaza.