Nikki Haley: If Israel doesn’t destroy Hamas, the terrorists will repeat Oct. 7th attacks

Republican presidential hopeful slams calls for ceasefire in Gaza, says Israel must ‘eliminate Hamas.’

By World Israel News Staff

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley criticized calls for the U.S. or the United Nations to impose a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, warning that a premature cessation of the current war would actually lead to greater loss of life in the long run.

Following the fourth Republican presidential primary debate, held last week at the University of Alabama Moody Music Hall in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Haley sat down with ABC News for an interview on the campaign trail in Iowa.

In the interview, Haley touched on the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, avoiding offering specifics for her vision of a post-war Gaza Strip, while rejecting calls to bring the war to a quick conclusion.

In last Wednesday’s debate, Haley urged Israel to “eliminate Hamas,” warning that a ceasefire now would be disastrous.

“The best way to save people in Gaza is to eliminate Hamas because they should not live under that.”

“If you do a cease-fire, people die, because we’ve done this before and what Hamas did before, they killed Israeli soldiers and they took more Israeli soldiers hostage. That’s what would happen.”

Speaking with ABC News Saturday, Haley reiterated her opposition to a ceasefire with Hamas, saying that Israel must destroy the terrorist organization in Gaza and secure the coastal enclave to prevent future attacks.

Haley argued that Israel has no territorial designs on the Gaza Strip, but must find a security mechanism to secure its border.

“I think Israel, Israel does not want Gaza, but they don’t want terrorists living in Gaza. So I think it needs to be a situation where the Israeli border is safe and protected and Gaza is no longer a bed for terrorists to act. And so I think we have to figure out how this is going to work.”

“I don’t think it’s something that Israel wants. I do think that it’s a place that should be free and open and safe, but not with terrorist activity.”

“So Israel is going to have to be involved in that. You can’t go through something like Oct. 7 and chance that happening to your people again because Hamas has already said that they’re going back. They’re going to do it again.”

With the GOP’s Iowa caucus kicking off the primary calendar on January 15th, Haley is now effectively tied with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for second place among Republican challengers to former President Donald Trump.