Trump: Hamas doesn’t ‘want to give hostages,’ so Israel will need ‘a different way’; Gaza ‘is a mess’

Speaking at his golf resort in Scotland, US President Donald Trump says that Hamas doesn’t want a ceasefire deal, and as a result Israel must fight differently in Gaza.

“They have totally changed now,” he says of Hamas. “They don’t want to give hostages.”

“I always said when you get down to the final 20, you won’t release them, because that’s like their shield,” he says of the last 20 living hostages held by Hamas. “Very unfair. And so something’s going to have to be done.”

Standing beside UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his wife, Victoria, Trump says that Hamas “were really unwilling to talk” in Doha.

“Now possibly the fight will have to be a little bit different,” he says, adding that he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “you’re going to have to now maybe do it a different way.”

At the same time, he says, a ceasefire in Gaza is still possible.

“Hamas did a horrible thing, and they paid a big price,” says Trump.

Asked about Israel’s protection of civilians in Gaza, Trump says that “no one has done anything great over there. The whole place is a mess.”

“They have to get food and safety right now,” he adds.

Starmer calls Gaza “an absolute catastrophe.”

“People in Britain are revolted seeing what they’re seeing on their screens,” the prime minister continues.

Asked about the Russia-Ukraine war, Trump says he is “disappointed” in Russian President Vladimir Putin, and that he will shorten the 50-day deadline he gave him for agreeing to a ceasefire.