Former US President and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump claimed on Thursday night that the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza “are largely dead”, though he did not say if he had any proof of this.

Speaking at a “Fighting Antisemitism” event in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump said, “If you've been watching over the last few days, Hamas is really being difficult to negotiate with and the reason is they're dead, not all but almost all a lot…but I think you're going to have very few people left. A lot of people that they think are alive are not going to be alive. These are very savage people.”

He criticized Vice President Kamala Harris, saying she was considering an arms embargo on Israel. “Under no circumstances should a radical extremist who flirts with an embargo against Israel ever become commander-in-chief of the US military. You know once the enemy sees this, if she was ever in there, they will take advantage of Israel.”

“The biggest strength that Israel has is that they know that with me they have total protection. They will not know that if this other one gets in. They almost know certainly that they will have no protection,” continued Trump, who described Harris as “a radical left lunatic that we have running for office, and I'm trying to brand her as such because if I don't, they get a lot of support, they get a lot of money coming in from lots of bad places, so we have to win the election.”

“When I'm back in the Oval Office I will support Israel's right to win its war on terror. They have to have a right to win the war,” declared Trump, adding, “And I will give Israel the support that it needs to win, but I do want them to win fast. Wouldn't it be nice if they could win fast?”

Trump also vowed that if he is elected, he will work to restore stability and peace to the Middle East and ensure “that it will be peace through strength”.

He had a message “to our enemies around the world: We want our hostages back and they better be back before I assume office.”

Trump commented on the antisemitism that has been rearing its head in the US in the wake of Hamas’ October 7 attack.

“What's going on now is exactly what was going on before the Holocaust. Jewish American businesses have been vandalized and we've heard chants of ‘death to Israel’ and ‘death to America’ and we've seen the prominent liberals repeat genocidal slogans. ‘From The River To The Sea’ - that's not a good slogan. That's a really bad slogan.”

“Instead of aggressively confronting these venomous antisemites in her party, Kamala Harris has maneuvered for their support,” he continued. “She said the radical demonstrators on college campuses were ‘showing a human emotion’. When a mob of terrorist supporters in Washington DC tore down the American flag in front of the Union Station last month, set it on fire and hoisted the Palestinian flag while assaulting police officers and spray painting magnificent works of art saying ‘Hamas is coming’ on a public monument, the Harris-Biden Administration dropped all charges against almost every single one of them.”

“Kamala has long embraced the extremists in her party because she's one of them,” claimed Trump. “She defended the infamous antisemite ilhan Omar and fought to keep her on the powerful Foreign Affairs committee. When a college student accused Israel of ethnic genocide, Kamala said that she was glad that the student made that comment. She actually said this.”

He went on to criticize Harris’ running mate Tim Walz, saying “he has praised a Hitler-supporting radical Muslim Imam. If Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are elected, the radical left flag burners and Hamas sympathizers will not just be causing chaos on our streets, they'll be running US foreign policy in the White House and Israel will be gone.”

“When I'm President,” he promised, “we will deport the foreign jihad sympathizers and we will Deport them very quickly, and Hamas supporters will be gone. If you hate America, if you want to eliminate Israel, then we don't want you in our country…the American taxpayer will not subsidize the creation of terrorist sympathizers on American soil. It won't happen. Colleges will end the antisemitic propaganda or they will lose their accreditation and every single last penny of federal support.”

“As your president I will once again stand with the state of Israel. I will protect the American Jewish community. I will put America first. I will keep America safe and I will defend Judeo-Christian civilization from the barbarian savages and the left-wing extremists who want to destroy it.”