Trump Says Peace With Hamas ‘May Not Be Possible, They’re A Brutal Group Of People’

NEW YORK (VINnews) —  U.S. President Donald Trump was asked in an interview with Newsmax on Tuesday whether peace could be achieved while Hamas remains in power — just days after his envoy to the region, Steve Witkoff, suggested that the terror group “could stay in Gaza for a while if it disarms.”

“I don’t know if that’s possible. We’re dealing with a brutal group of people,” Trump responded.

The president shared that he had asked survivors of Hamas captivity, whom he met with, whether their captors showed any sign of compassion.

“Every one of them said ‘absolutely not,’ and they described far worse things — that they were beaten. I asked, ‘But was there even a shred of kindness?’ They said, ‘Absolutely not.'”

Trump appeared to be backtracking from Witkoff’s controversial statement, which provoked strong criticism both in Israel and abroad.

In response to Witkoff’s suggestion, Mark Mellman, President & CEO of Democratic Majority for Israel, made the following statement.

“Steve Witkoff has done some important work, but on Hamas’ post-war role in Gaza, he is just plain wrong. Hamas is a vicious terrorist organization and must have no role whatever in post-war Gaza. Hamas, the group that murdered 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped hundreds, must be dismantled, disarmed and defeated.

“Witkoff’s troubling statement, made on Tucker Carlson’s podcast—a program that also hosts far-right and antisemitic conspiracists—comes after Trump’s special envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, said Hamas officials were ‘actually pretty nice guys.’

“This shocking and dangerous normalization of Hamas by the Trump-Vance administration is deeply alarming.

“Steve Witkoff should repudiate his statement, and the Trump administration should clarify where it stands on Hamas.”