 "Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a residential building, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on March 18, 2025. Reuters File")
US President Donald Trump “fully supports” Israeli strikes in Gaza, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday as she blamed Hamas for the attacks.
“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.
Earlier this week, Israel launched fresh strikes on Gaza killing over 500 people including 200 children while more than 900 Palestinians have been left seriously injured.
On Thursday, Israel’s military said it had killed the head of Hamas’s internal security agency in an air strike on the Gaza Strip, the latest official targeted in recent days.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian terrorist group has also fired rockets at Tel Aviv in its first military response to the growing civilian death toll from Israel’s resumption of air and ground operations in Gaza.
The armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said it fired rockets at Tel Aviv in response to Israel’s “massacres” of Gaza civilians.
The Israeli army said it intercepted one projectile fired from Gaza and that two others struck an uninhabited area.
US blames Hamas
US Ambassador Dorothy Shea said that Hamas “bears the sole responsibility for the war and the resumption of hostilities” in Gaza at the UN Security Council meeting.
She said, “Trump has been clear: Hamas must release all hostages now or there will be hell to pay,” adding that “fighting could end tomorrow” but the group has “refused time and time again to accept proposals to extend the ceasefire.”
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“We must recognise Hamas for what it is: a savage terrorist organisation that purposefully committed the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust,” Shea said.
‘Last warning to Gazans’
Israel bombarded Gaza and pressed its ground operations on Thursday after issuing what it called a “last warning” for Palestinians to return hostages and remove Hamas from power.
After Israel urged civilians to leave areas it described as “combat zones”, families with young children filled the roads leading out of northern Gaza.
Addressing the “residents of Gaza” – governed by Hamas since 2007 – Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a video: “This is the last warning.”
“Take the advice of the president of the United States. Return the hostages and remove Hamas, and other options will open up for you – including the possibility of leaving for other places in the world for those who want to.”
With inputs from AFP