US President Donald Trump said Monday that Hamas has lost “70,000 people” since the terror group’s October 7, 2023, attack, apparently rounding up the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry’s death toll, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

“From the Hamas standpoint, they probably lost 70,000 people. That’s big retribution,” Trump said near the beginning of a cabinet meeting at the White House.

Israel says it has killed some 22,000 combatants in the war as of August.

“But at some point that whole, that whole thing has to stop, and we’re going to see to it,” Trump said.

“Gaza is going to be slowly redone,” he continued, highlighting the various Arab and Muslim countries that have committed to assisting in the rebuilding effort.

The president asserted that his decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in June was “very important” in helping bring about this morning’s Gaza deal.

“Let’s say that didn’t happen, [Iran] probably by now would have… numerous nuclear weapons, and therefore, even if we signed a deal, there’d be a big dark cloud over it,” Trump said.

“We have major sanctions on Iran… \[but] we’d like to see them be able to rebuild their country too,” he said.

Trump thanked the leaders of Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Indonesia for their help in securing the Gaza deal.

Turning to the ongoing hostage situation, the president said the captives will be freed within the next few days.

“They should be released on Monday or Tuesday. Getting them is a complicated process. I’d rather not tell you what they have to do to get them,” Trump said at the beginning of the cabinet meeting.

“Last night, we reached a momentous breakthrough in the Middle East,” he said. “We ended the war in Gaza, and really, on a much bigger basis, created peace… hopefully an everlasting peace in the Middle East.”

Trump said he is planning to travel to the Middle East next week, though the exact timing has not yet been finalized.

He said he will go to Egypt to participate in a signing ceremony.

He did not mention a stop in Israel, even though Israeli officials have said they are planning for such a visit on Sunday.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)