Trump says he told Netanyahu to end Gaza war but criticizes ceasefire call

By Kanishka Singh and Nathan Layne

WASHINGTON/ BEDMINSTER, New Jersey (Reuters) - Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Thursday he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their last meeting in July to quickly end Israel's war in Gaza, but the former president also criticized ceasefire demands.

"He knows what he's doing, I did encourage him to get this over with," Trump told reporters at a press conference on Thursday. "It has to get over with fast. ... Get your victory and get it over with. It has to stop, the killing has to stop."

Trump was referring to his meeting with Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago residence in late July, when Netanyahu visited the United States. He also met President Joe Biden and Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris during his trip.

There has been an increased risk of a broader war in the Middle East after the recent killings of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas' leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran and Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut. Both drew threats of retaliation against Israel.

In an event later on Thursday about tackling antisemitism, Trump criticized Biden and Harris' months-long calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.

"From the start, Harris has worked to tie Israel's hand behind its back, demanding an immediate ceasefire, always demanding ceasefire," Trump said, adding it "would only give Hamas time to regroup and launch a new October 7 style attack."

Trump added: "I will give Israel the support that it needs to win but I do want them to win fast."

In the same event, Trump also labelled pro-Palestinian supporters calling for an end to U.S. support for Israel's war as "pro-Hamas thugs" and "jihad sympathizers." He threatened to arrest and deport them from the U.S. if he became president.

Netanyahu's office and Trump both separately denied on Thursday an Axios report that said they had spoken the previous day about Gaza ceasefire and hostage release talks.

Biden laid out a three-phase ceasefire proposal in an address on May 31. Washington and regional mediators have since tried arranging the Gaza ceasefire-for-hostages deal but have run into repeated obstacles.

The Axios report cited two U.S. sources. One source said the reported call was intended to encourage Netanyahu to take the deal, but stressed he did not know if this is indeed what the former president told Netanyahu.

Egypt, the United States and Qatar have scheduled a new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations this week.

Washington, Israel's most important ally, has said that a ceasefire in Gaza will reduce the rising threat of a wider war.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent assault on the Hamas-governed enclave has since killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, while also displacing nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, causing a hunger crisis and leading to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington, Nathan Layne in Bedminster, New Jersey and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; editing by Philippa Fletcher, Deepa Babington and Stephen Coates)