‘You know where he stands, and he would like to go, and he just is so angry, and he should be,’ Trump tells Brian Kilmeade
President Donald Trump gave Israel the green light to restart its war effort in Gaza, saying he would be “OK” with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu making that decision after Hamas paraded the coffins of two Israeli children through the war-torn strip as Palestinians cheered on. Netanyahu, Trump said, “would like to go back” into Gaza and is “so angry” over the scenes.
Asked by Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade during a Friday morning interview if he is “OK” with Netanyahu ditching a tenuous ceasefire with Hamas, Trump responded, “I am. I really am.” The president’s remarks are the clearest sign to date that the United States would back Israel if it reenters Gaza to fully annihilate Hamas’s remaining forces.
Netanyahu, Trump said, “would like” to do just that following Thursday’s shocking hostage exchange, in which Hamas displayed the caskets of the murdered Bibas children—nine-month-old Kfir and four-year-old Ariel—before throngs of excited Gazans. While Hamas claimed the children had been killed by an Israeli airstrike, a forensic examination concluded the terror group murdered them “with their bare hands,” according to Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari.
Hamas was also slated to return the body of the boys’ deceased mother, Shiri Bibas, but an Israeli examination proved it was not her in the casket but rather an “unidentified” Gazan woman.
“He’s a very angry man at what happened, especially what happened yesterday with these kids,” Trump said of Netanyahu. “You know where he stands, and he would like to go, and he just is so angry, and he should be.”
Netanyahu himself issued a statement on Friday after Israel examined the bodies of the returned hostages. He promised “revenge” for Hamas’s crimes.
“As the prime minister of Israel, I vow that I will not rest until the savages who executed our hostages are brought to justice. They do not deserve to walk this earth. Nothing will stop me. Nothing,” he said.
Trump also discussed his plans to take control of the Gaza Strip and export its population to neighboring countries while the territory is reshaped into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
Egypt and Jordan, the two main players in any future deal, continue to publicly rebuke Trump’s plan, but the president said his proposal remains the best option for Gaza’s future.
“We pay Jordan and Egypt billions of dollars a year, and I was a little surprised they’d say that, but they did, and I’ll tell you, the way to do it is my plan,” Trump said. “I think that’s the plan that really works, but I’m not forcing it.” Trump nonetheless said he would continue to advocate for the plan.
“I’m just going to sit back and recommend it, and then the U.S. would own the site,” the president said. “It’d be no Hamas, and they’d be developed, and then you start all over again with a clean plate.”
