Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said there's no intervening in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, saying that "You're probably going to have to let it play out because a lot of people are dying."
Trump made the comments during an interview with Univision that aired Thursday night. The question posed to Trump was what could be done to stop the killing of civilians amid Israel's quest to eradicate Hamas.
"So you have a war that's going on and you're probably going to have to let this play out," Trump told Univision. "You're probably going to have to let it play out because a lot of people are dying. It should have never started."
In a follow-up about the images coming out of Gaza, Trump said "It's horrible on both sides."
Trump's assessment comes amid global calls for a cease-fire. Israel continues to beat back those calls until all of the hostages are released by Hamas. Israel did, however, agree to four-hour pauses to allow for humanitarian aid to flow into Hamas. The Biden administration called for the pauses but has yet to publicly push Israel for a cease-fire.
Trump fingered Iran for the massacre carried out by Hamas on Israel beginning Oct. 7. Hamas slaughtered 1,400, roughly 800 of those civilians.
"There was no way it would have started again. Iran didn't have the money because Iran is leading this. And only fools would say that's not true. They're leading this. They're very tricky, very smart, very cunning. They're leading it, and it's got to end," Trump said.
"But this is a war that's going to hatred between two sides. They say in history there's never been hatred like this. It's been going on for a long time," Trump added.
"The hatred is so incredible," Trump added. "They learn to hate Jewish people in the earliest forms of school, whatever their form of school is, but, you know, hate Israel hatred. It's very hard.
"There is no hatred like the Palestinian hatred of Israel and Jewish people. And probably the other way around too, I don't know. You know, it's not as obvious, but probably that's it, too. So sometimes you have to let things play out, and you have to see where it ends."
Trump last month incurred criticism when he called Hezbollah, the terrorist group of Lebanon to Israel's north, "very smart."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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