'They may be winning, but...': Trump says Gaza war is 'hurting Israel' - Here's what he thinks Tel Aviv should do

US President Donald Trump has warned that Israel’s war in Gaza is harming its reputation worldwide and urged a quick resolution. “They’re gonna have to get that war over with. But it is hurting Israel. There’s no question about it. They may be winning the war, but they’re not winning the world of public relations, you know, and it is hurting them,” Trump told the Daily Caller.

Israel’s weakened influence in Washington

Trump also said that Israel no longer has the same sway in Washington that it once enjoyed. “If you go back 15–20 years, Israel had the strongest lobby in Congress of anything or body, or of any company or corporation or state that I’ve ever seen. Israel was the strongest, and today it doesn’t have that strong a lobby. It’s amazing,” he said.

He blamed the rise of progressive Democrats for this shift, saying, “There was a time where you couldn’t speak badly about Israel if you wanted to be a politician, you couldn’t. But today you have Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and all these lunatics, and they’ve really changed it. Israel once had complete control in Congress, and now it doesn’t. I’m a little surprised to see it.”

Trump recalls October 7 attacks

The president also stressed the importance of remembering Hamas’s October 7 assault. “People have forgotten October 7, it was a really horrible day. I saw the pictures. It was really bad. You have people that deny it ever happened. You have people that deny the Holocaust ever happened,” he said.

White House weighs in on postwar Gaza plans

Last week, the White House held internal discussions on what Gaza could look like after the fighting. A senior official said Trump convened a meeting with aides to review “all aspects of the Gaza issue, including increasing aid deliveries, the hostage crisis and plans for the day after the war.” Another official said Trump “made clear that he wants the war to end, and that he wants peace and prosperity for all the people of the region.”

Trump also claimed, “Nobody has done more for Israel than I have, including the recent attacks with Iran, wiping that thing out.”

While pressing Israel to end the war quickly, Trump has also backed its plan to seize Gaza City. In recent weeks, he said Jerusalem must “finish the job” against Hamas, adding that hostages will only be freed after the militant group is destroyed.

The Israeli military has reportedly assessed that the Gaza City campaign could last four to five months, after which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has discussed operations in refugee camps in central Gaza. Despite this, US officials, including Trump and his special envoy Steve Witkoff, have repeatedly stressed their preference for a shortertimeline.