U.S. President Donald Trump said he stopped Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from fighting in Gaza, a war he said would have continued "for years" without his pressure on Netanyahu.

“He would have just kept going,” Trump told TIME in a newly published interview. “It could have gone on for years. It would have gone on for years. But I stopped him, and everybody came together when I stopped him.”

Newsweek has contacted Netanyahu's office for comment.

Trump and Netanyahu have heaped praise on each other publicly. But Trump has also shown signs of frustration with Netanyahu's hardline approach, saying in his recent speech to the Knesset that the Israeli "is not the easiest guy to deal with".

In the interview, Trump said he pushed Netanyahu to accept his peace plan: “Bibi, you

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