Influencers associated with former President Donald Trump's MAGA movement are slamming Israel's deadly attack on a camp for displaced Palestinians in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
At least 45 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the tent camp late on Sunday night, according to a Reuters report published on Monday.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that the attack, which prompted calls for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to enforce a recent ruling demanding that Israel halt its attack on Rafah, had been carried out with "precise munitions" and eliminated two Hamas officials.
Republicans have generally been supportive of Israel's attacks in Gaza, which were launched in response to the surprise October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. However, a selection of Trump's most dedicated supporters have denounced the continuing assault by the IDF, with some joining leftists in characterizing the situation in Gaza as a "genocide." Trump himself has not denounced Israel's military tactics.
Jackson Hinkle, a 24-year-old self-described "American Conservative Marxist-Leninist" with a large online following, shared an image depicting a bloody post-attack scene in Rafah while describing it as a "Rafah Holocaust" in an early Monday morning post to X, formerly Twitter.
The "Chief Trumpster" account shared a screenshot of an article on the IDF attacking Rafah following the ICJ ruling, alongside the comment "genocide."
"It's almost as if Zionists are in control of many Western governments," X user @JRGreen2118 wrote in response.
"The videos from Rafah are so horrific," pro-Trump journalist and activist Cassandra MacDonald wrote on X. "I truly do not think israel will exist much longer. The support they have purchased here won't carry through to the next generation. People have eyes. They can't just lie about what is happening over there anymore."
"Israel is doing a Genocide, and Biden is funding it," @REVMAXXING, a proponent of "MAGA Communism," posted.
Newsweek reached out for comment to Trump's office via email on Monday morning.
Trump denounced President Joe Biden earlier this month for threatening to cut off U.S. weapons transfers over Israel's invasion of Rafah while insisting that IDF needed to "get the job done" by attacking the city in continued retaliation for the initial Hamas attack.
The Hamas attack killed approximately 1,200 people in Israel, while the IDF's response has since resulted in the deaths of more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to an Associated Press report that cites figures from local health authorities.
About 80 percent of the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced since the conflict began, with many fleeing to Rafah. Over 1 million have left Rafah since the IDF began its assault earlier this month. Meanwhile, Hamas continues to hold around 100 of the 250 hostages it took during the October 7 attack.
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Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more
