US President Donald Trump “fully supports” Israel’s resumption of genocide in Gaza, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated on Thursday. Since Tuesday morning, Israeli attacks have killed over 500 Palestinian civilians, the majority of whom are women and children after more than two weeks of blocking aid to enter the besieged enclave.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said 506 Palestinians, including 200 children, have been killed and 909 injured in the enclave since Israel shattered the ceasefire on Tuesday. At least 95 Palestinians have been killed across the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces since dawn on Thursday.
“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.
“The president made it very clear to Hamas that if they did not release all of the hostages there would be all hell to pay, and unfortunately, Hamas chose to play games in the media with lives.”
Leavitt claimed the situation was “completely the fault of Hamas” for their October 7, 2023 operation on Israel, adding that Trump wants “all of those hostages” to be released.
Meanwhile, EU leaders have said that they deplore the breakdown of the ceasefire in Gaza.
“The European Council deplores the breakdown of the ceasefire in Gaza, which has caused a large number of civilian casualties in recent air strikes,” the council said in a statement while refusing to state that Israel broke with truce and resumed the genocide unilaterally.
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of UNRWA, has said, “We are fearing that the worst is yet to come given the ongoing ground invasion separating the north from the south,” as Israel’s bombardment continues from air & sea for the third day.
Lazzarini added, “Evacuation orders forcing people to flee were issued impacting tens of thousands of people. The vast majority have been already displaced, treated like “pinballs” since the war began nearly 1.5 years ago.”
He also noted that In the past few days, “another five UNRWA staff have been confirmed killed, bringing the death toll to 284. They were teachers, doctors and nurses: serving the most vulnerable.”
The Israeli attacks marked the collapse of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal that had begun on January 19, 2025. The first phase ended on March 1, 2025, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to proceed with the second phase.
Since October 7, 2023, Israeli military operations, backed by the United States, have killed and wounded over 161,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children. More than 14,000 people remain missing under the rubble.
