Trump says Hamas ‘probably lost 70,000 people,’ Gaza ‘going to be slowly redone’

US President Donald Trump says Hamas has lost “70,000 people” since the terror group’s October 7, 2023, attack, apparently rounding up the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry’s death toll, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.

“From the Hamas standpoint, they probably lost 70,000 people. That’s big retribution,” Trump says near the beginning of a cabinet meeting at the White House.

Israel says it has killed some 22,000 combatants in the war as of August.

“But at some point that whole, that whole thing has to stop, and we’re going to see to it,” Trump says.

“Gaza is going to be slowly redone,” he continues, highlighting the various Arab and Muslim countries that have committed to assisting in the rebuilding effort.

The president asserts that his decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in June was “very important” in helping bring about this morning’s Gaza deal.

“Let’s say that didn’t happen, [Iran] probably by now would have… numerous nuclear weapons, and therefore, even if we signed a deal, there’d be a big dark cloud over it,” Trump says.

“We have major sanctions on Iran… [but] we’d like to see them be able to rebuild their country too,” he says.

Trump thanks the leaders of Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Indonesia for their help in securing the Gaza deal.