White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that President Trump “fully supports” Israel’s renewed massive bombing campaign in Gaza, which has killed at least 200 children since Tuesday.
“The president made it very clear to Hamas that if they did not release all of the hostages, there would be all hell to pay. Unfortunately, Hamas chose to play games in the media with lives,” Leavitt told reporters.
The US and Israel are blaming Hamas for the lack of a continued ceasefire and hostage releases. But it was Israel that repeatedly violated the deal signed in January, which would have led to the release of all Israeli captives, a permanent truce, and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Leavitt said that President Trump “fully supports Israel and the IDF and the actions that they’ve taken in recent days.”
On Wednesday, the State Department also affirmed the administration’s unconditional support for Israel. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said the US will “stand with Israel in every circumstance.”
When asked about the massive child casualties in the Israeli bombing, Bruce pinned the blame on Hamas. “So it’s a shame that Hamas has allowed this to occur, but look nowhere else other than the people who have facilitated this suffering from the beginning,” she said.
Bruce claimed that the administration wants peace, but President Trump has emboldened Netanyahu and his government by supplying huge amounts of military aid and repeatedly calling for the permanent expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza instead of pressuring Israel to implement the deal it signed in January.
