Trump criticized Israel for its attack on Hezbollah, claiming that it was killing civilians

US President Trump made a rare public condemnation of Israel's military strategy in Lebanon against Hezbollah on Tuesday (June 16th), stating that there was no need to bomb entire apartment buildings in an effort to capture militants.

Reuters reported that Trump said at the G7 summit held in France that the battle between Israel and Hezbollah has "gone on for too long".

He said: "Too many people have lost their lives. You don't need to blow up an entire apartment building every time you conduct a search operation, because those buildings house many people, and not all of them are members of Hezbollah."

The relationship between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has become increasingly tense recently. The two leaders have repeatedly clashed over Israel's refusal to limit its military operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Trump and other US presidents rarely criticize Israel's military strategies.

Trump said that he had a good relationship with Netanyahu, but at the same time he stated that Netanyahu should be "more responsible" towards Lebanon. "Without us, without the United States, there would be no Israel. Without me, there would be no Israel because no other president would be willing to do what I did."

Shortly after he made the above remarks, the official social media account of the White House released a video of this speech.

The White House did not explain why it released the video, but stated that the president has a close relationship with Netanyahu and described the Israeli Defense Forces as "an outstanding partner".

A White House official said: "There is no greater friend of Israel and defender of peace than President Trump... The decisive actions taken by the United States and Israel to prevent the Iranian regime from developing nuclear weapons have made the United States and its allies around the world safer."