Trump: Don’t think Gaza war is a genocide, ‘some horrible things happened’ on Oct. 7

By Jacob Magid

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4 August 2025, 3:42 am

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Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

US President Donald Trump speaks to journalists at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on August 3, 2025, as returns to the White House from his Bedminster residence. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP)

US President Donald Trump says he doesn’t think the war in Gaza is a genocide, asserting that “some horrible things happened” during the Hamas-led onslaught that triggered the war on October 7, 2023.

Trump is asked by reporters whether he characterizes Israel’s response as a genocide.

“I don’t think it’s that,” he responds.

“They’re in a war,” Trump adds, before shifting to the October 7 atrocities.

Asked for an update on Gaza more broadly, Trump reiterates that the US is working to feed Palestinians in the Strip.

“We want the people fed… We want Israel to get them fed,” he says. “We don’t want people going hungry, and we don’t want people to starve.”