Mike Huckabee, U.S. ambassador to Israel, told Newsmax on Friday that President Donald Trump did not signal a change in strategy with the Gaza Strip after negotiations between the U.S. and Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists broke down.
Before boarding Marine One earlier Friday on his way to Scotland, Trump told reporters: "It was too bad, Hamas didn't really want to make a deal. I think they want to die and it's very, very bad. … It got to a point where you're going to have to finish the job."
Huckabee told "Finnerty" that this does not mean sending U.S. troops into Gaza, and that Trump has been consistent on how he sees the war ending: with Hamas no longer in power and all the hostages returned.
"I don't think we saw a change," Huckabee said. "And I don't think the president is planning on sending U.S. troops into Gaza. He doesn't have to.
"The Israelis have had troops on the ground since the beginning of this war. A war they didn't start. A war that Hamas started by massacring 1,200 innocent civilians and then taking captive over 250 people, mostly civilians, and quite frankly, many women, little bitty children, and elderly people.
"These are horrible people, Hamas, and they've continued to torture these people.
"But what President Trump has said so clearly through the whole process is Hamas can't stay, and they can't rule Gaza in the future. And for them to even think they could, would be like saying that the Nazis could have stayed in power after World War II in Germany and continued to govern the place. Nobody would have thought that was a rational or a sane thing to even imagine."
In a post Friday morning on X, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Hamas is the obstacle to a deal for releasing the remaining hostages and that Israel and its "U.S. allies" will be "considering alternative options to bring our hostages home, end Hamas' terror rule, and secure lasting peace for Israel and our region."
"I don't know that we know what [Gaza] looks like [after the war], but here's what I think Hamas needs to understand: If they don't think President Trump is serious, they need to just ask themselves what happened to Iran when they didn't believe Donald Trump was serious dealing with them," Huckabee said, referring to U.S. strikes last month that crippled Iran's nuclear sites.
"They might want to learn a lesson. This is a president who when he makes a promise, by golly, he keeps it."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.