Trump ‘fully supports’ Israeli actions in Gaza: White House

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump “fully supports” Israel´s deadly resumption of air and ground operations in Gaza, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday, blaming Hamas for the violence.

“He fully supports Israel and the IDF and the actions that they´ve taken in recent days,” Leavitt told reporters when asked if Trump was trying to get a Gaza ceasefire back on track.“The president made it very clear to Hamas that if they did not release all of the hostages there would be all hell to pay, and unfortunately, Hamas chose to play games in the media with lives.”

Leavitt said the situation was “completely the fault of Hamas” for their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, adding that Trump wants “all of those hostages” seized by Palestinian militants to be released.

Meanwhile, Israeli police deployed a water cannon and made several arrests on Thursday as protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s move to oust the head of the domestic intelligence service flared for a third consecutive day.

Thousands of Israelis have joined anti-Netanyahu demonstrations with opponents of the move to sack Shin Bet head Ronen Bar joining forces with protesters angry at the decision to resume fighting in Gaza, breaking a two-month-old ceasefire, while 59 Israeli hostages remain in the Palestinian enclave.

“We’re very, very worried that our country is becoming a dictatorship,” Rinat Hadashi, 59, said in Jerusalem. “They’re abandoning our hostages, they’re neglecting all the important things for this country.”

On Thursday, police and demonstrators clashed as hundreds marched along the road leading to the prime minister’s official residence in Jerusalem, where police said dozens of protesters tried to break through security cordons.

Protests were planned later outside the Kirya military headquarters complex in Tel Aviv.A day earlier there were angry confrontations between protesters and counter-demonstrators, highlighting divisions that have deepened since Netanyahu returned to power at the head of a right-wing coalition at the end of 2022.

Even before the war in Gaza, tens of thousands of Israelis were joining regular demonstrations protesting at a government drive to curb the power of the judiciary that critics saw as an assault on Israeli democracy but which the government said was needed to limit judicial overreach.

Israel’s cabinet is expected to meet on Friday to formally approve the dismissal of Bar, who has clashed with Netanyahu over a corruption investigation against aides in his office that the prime minister has called a politically motivated attack.