US President Donald Trump has not liked seeing reports from recent days of Palestinians killed while trying to obtain humanitarian aid in Gaza and was “caught off guard” by recent Israeli strikes targeting Syrian government sites as well as deadly IDF shelling that struck a church in Gaza, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday.
Leavitt’s willingness to highlight Trump’s displeasures pointed to a continued US discomfort with Israeli policy in Syria and the Gaza Strip, even as the two countries have remained broadly aligned strategically.
Asked by reporters outside the White House about the latest mass-casualty incident involving Gazan aid seekers that occurred Sunday, Leavitt responded, “The president never likes to see that. He wants the killing to end, and he wants to negotiate a ceasefire in this region.”
“He wants to see all of the hostages released from Gaza that has been a top priority for this president,” she added.
The Israel Defense Forces has admitted to firing warning shots that struck some Palestinians who it said approached troops in a threatening manner as thousands converged on a UN convoy in northern Gaza on Sunday. Hamas authorities said 79 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire. The IDF accuses Hamas authorities of inflating the death toll, but has not provided an alternative figure and continues to ban foreign journalists from freely reporting in Gaza to verify casualty figures reported by Hamas authorities.
Leavitt said Trump wants aid to be distributed “in a peaceful manner where more lives are not being lost,” while also ensuring that the assistance cannot reach Hamas.
Trump “hated seeing the pictures of starvation of women and children who desperately need that aid,” she added.
Leavitt noted the administration’s decision to back the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has been delivering aid in Gaza over the past two months under a new mechanism aimed at diverting Hamas theft.
But that system too has been plagued with problems, as it has forced Palestinians to walk long distances while crossing IDF lines in order to pick up aid. GHF has also not been vetting the thousands of aid recipients picking up boxes of food, due to the utterly chaotic situation at distribution sites, so is there no way to confirm the humanitarian assistance is reaching its attended recipients. Hamas has come out strongly against GHF, warning civilians not to cooperate with the organization.
Asked whether Trump has expressed his frustration with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over recent Israeli strikes in Gaza, Leavitt said that the two leaders have a “good working relationship” and are in frequent contact.
However, Leavitt acknowledged that Trump was “caught off guard” both by Israel’s recent strikes in Syria and the attack which hit Gaza’s only Catholic church, killing three civilians. Israel has apologized for the church incident, insisting that the site was struck by errant shrapnel.
“In both accounts, the president quickly called the prime minister to rectify those situations,” the White House press secretary said.
Over the weekend, several US officials were anonymously quoted in the Axios news site expressing their frustration with Netanyahu, arguing that Israeli strikes on Syrian government forces risk toppling the fledgling leadership that Washington is trying to support in an effort to stabilize the country.
The Axios report cited Trump aides who were frustrated with Netanyahu, but Leavitt’s comments indicated the dissatisfaction in the administration has extended to the US president himself.
Earlier Monday, US special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack criticized Israel’s recent military intervention in Syria, saying that it was poorly timed and complicated efforts to stabilize the region.
Israel has insisted that its conduct has been motivated by a desire to protect Syria’s Druze population and has accused President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s forces of complicity in recent deadly attacks against the minority group in the country’s south.