President Donald J. Trump on Friday reportedly delivered a scathing rebuke of Hamas following the collapse of the latest ceasefire negotiations, indicating that Israel may now be justified in taking decisive military action to neutralize the group after nearly two years of war in Gaza.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, the president did not mince words. “Yeah, Gaza — they pulled out of Gaza. They pulled out in terms of negotiating.
It was too bad. Hamas — Hamas didn’t really want to make a deal,” Trump said. “I think they want to die, and it’s very, very bad.”
The comment came just days after Hamas reportedly withdrew from talks aimed at brokering a ceasefire and hostage deal, prompting a stark shift in rhetoric from Trump and his senior aides.
“It got to be to a point where you’re going to have to finish the job,” Trump said of Israel’s ongoing military operation. “They really, they asked for things. Don’t forget, we got a lot of hostages out. So now we’re down to the final hostages. And they know what happens after you get the final hostages… they really didn’t want to make a deal.”
“So they pulled out,” he continued. “And they’re going to have to fight and they are going to clean it up. You’re going to have to get rid of them.”
Trump’s comments echoed the sentiments of his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who announced that his team was leaving Qatar after Hamas showed what he called “a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire.”
“While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith,” Witkoff said in a Thursday statement. “We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza.”
While media outlets have spotlighted the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza — with reports of aid bottlenecks and starvation — Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst provided context that complicates the narrative.
“Hundreds of trucks worth of aid is sitting inside Gaza,” Yingst reported earlier this week. “Five separate routes were offered to the UN to distribute this aid, I’m told. Palestinian civilians are in desperate need of this humanitarian support.”
That reality, some pro-Israel conservatives argue, underscores a harsh truth: Hamas, not Israel, is obstructing relief efforts for civilians and sabotaging negotiations meant to end the bloodshed.
As the conflict enters its 22nd month, Trump’s message was unambiguous — after hostage negotiations broke down and Hamas walked away from the table, the time may have come for Israel to act decisively and “finish the job.”
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