US President Donald Trump speaks at the White House in Washington, DC, US, June 12, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

US President Donald Trump has denied that Israel is committing a so-called “genocide” in Gaza, arguing that the Jewish state is instead fighting a justifiable war to remove the Hamas terrorist group from the Palestinian enclave.

While he prepared to board Air Force One in Pennsylvania on Sunday, reporters asked Trump whether he agrees with the characterization of Israel’s war in Gaza as being a “genocide.”

“I don’t think it’s that. They’re in a war,” Trump said.

“Some horrible things happened on Oct. 7,” Trump told reporters, referring to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel. “It was a horrible, horrible thing. One of the worst I’ve ever seen.”

During the Oct. 7 onslaught, which launched the ongoing war in Gaza, Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people, kidnapped 251 hostages, and perpetrated rampant sexual violence while rampaging across southern Israel.

Trump emphasized the urgency of providing more humanitarian aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip and claimed the US is spearheading efforts to ensure that hunger does not intensify throughout the enclave.

“We want the people fed. We’re the only country that’s really doing that. We’re putting up money to get the people fed. And Steve Witkoff is doing a great job,” Trump continued, referring to his envoy to the Middle East.

Several international organizations and human rights groups have accused Israel of committing a so-called “genocide” in Gaza, claims which Israel has fiercely denied.

Despite the mounting humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Israeli officials maintain that they are taking extensive measures to minimize civilian suffering while pursuing legitimate military objectives against Hamas. The Israeli government has coordinated with international partners, including the US and Egypt, to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries, allowing shipments of food, water, medicine, and fuel through designated crossings despite ongoing hostilities. Israel emphasizes that it warns civilians before operations, encourages evacuations, and targets Hamas infrastructure embedded within civilian areas only when necessary. Officials argue that Hamas’s tactics, such as using hospitals, schools, and densely populated neighborhoods to shield fighters, make civilian casualties tragically unavoidable.