Trump says Israel's public image is 'in ruin' amidst Gaza war

Former US president Donald Trump has said he would have responded the same way as Israel did after the October 7 blitz by resistance group Hamas but urged the country to "finish up" its brutal war on besieged Gaza and "get this over with," warning about international support fading as the country's public image is "in ruin".

"You have to finish up your war. You have to finish it up. You've got to get it done," he said in an interview with Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom on Monday.

"We've got to get to peace. You can't have this going on, and I will say Israel has to be very careful because you are losing a lot of the world. You are losing a lot of support."

Trump, who earlier this month became the Republican Party's presumptive nominee, brought up global criticism of Israel's genocide even as he has repeatedly attacked President Joe Biden's handling of the war.

According to the newspaper's transcript of the interview, Trump said, "Israel made a very big mistake" in releasing photos and videos of its war on Gaza, commenting the country's public image is "in ruin."

"They're being hurt very badly. I think in a public relations sense," he said.

A video shared of the interview does not show those comments.

"That's a terrible portrait. It's a very bad picture for the world," Trump said. "I think Israel wanted to show that it’s tough, but sometimes you shouldn't be doing that."

Trump also again suggested that American Jews were wrong to support Democrats, days after being criticised by some Jewish advocates for saying Jewish Democrats were being disloyal to their religion.

"Look at the New York Times. It's a Jewish family. I think they hate Israel," he said. "Now the conservative Jews love Trump, I would get the highest marks I would get, I would beat anybody [with them] they love Trump, I think they are great, and they love Israel."

He alleged that Biden "supports the enemy", in a probable reference to Palestine.

Netanyahu 'not prepared' for Gaza revolt

The Israel Hayom is widely seen as a mouthpiece for hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Soon after October 7, Trump denounced Netanyahu for allegedly letting him down while he was in the White House.

He also said Netanyahu "was not prepared" for the surprise blitz from Gaza.

Israel has killed more than 32,333 Palestinians and wounded over 74,694 others in its brutal war on the blockaded enclave.

The Israeli war has pushed 85 percent of Gaza's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 percent of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice.

An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.